Competencies for Effective Teaching of Hearing Impaired Students

Abstract

Instructional supervisors' ratings of competencies critical to teaching effectiveness for hearing impaired students were collected and analyzed. Supervisors from special schools and public school programs for hearing impaired students (N = 150) rated 40 competency statements using a modified forced choice Q-sort procedure. Confidence interval testing was used to determine which competencies were rated as most critical to teaching effectiveness, and 11 competencies were identified. Supervisors in special schools and public school classes agreed on 10 of the 11 competencies as those most critical to effective teaching. The results indicate that while supervisors in different educational settings may disagree about the relative importance of some competencies, they agree on 10 competencies which are the most critical to the effective teaching of hearing impaired students.