Cultural Factors and the Achievement of Black and Hispanic Deaf Students

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Throughout the years, the achievement levels of deaf students and their hearing counterparts have been strikingly different (Moores, 1996). Deaf students are considered a high risk population because of academic scores consistently falling far below the average hearing student's in reading and math, and the perpetuation of language and communication delays (Mar-schark, 1997). These achievementgap trends are similar to those noted between races, where ethnic minority students are found to achieve below white students. Both groups experience cultural disadvantages in the home and school, causing performance outcome levels to be very low compared to the average white American student. …