Project Deaf Prep

Lindsey Antle Pikes Peak Community College Colorado Springs, Colorado  

Overview of the College

Pikes Peak Community College is a comprehensive community college located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. With an enrollment of 7,000 students, it is the second-largest community college in the state. The college offers courses and degrees at four major sites in the Colorado Springs area, three local military bases, more than 100 out-of-state and out-of-country military sites, and numerous international sites. Pikes Peak emphasizes international education, multi-media instruction, and programs supporting Deaf and hard of hearing individuals. As a hub of the Western Region Outreach center & Consortia, it serves as the Southwest Regional Resource Center for Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
 

The Pressing Issue

Our Problem

Pikes Peak Community College is an open-door college – by philosophy as well as by legislative mandate. We strive to be a student’s first, as well as last, chance at higher education. This is a mixed blessing. It allows students to enter who might not be ready for postsecondary education. This has been the case with numerous Deaf and hard of hearing students during the college’s 30-year history.

Community colleges are the only entities in Colorado authorized to deliver postsecondary developmental (remedial) instruction. These classes were often the classes of choice for Deaf and hard of hearing students who entered our college under-prepared for postsecondary-level work.

We noticed that Deaf students would enter developmental classes such as ENG 030, be provided with excellent interpreters, work very hard, get ample tutoring, and still fail. This failure happened not once, but repeatedly, until it finally seemed that Deaf students were choosing developmental studies as their major course of study! We had assumed that 1 + 1 = 2: one motivated Deaf student plus one qualified interpreter equaled successful access to education. We were faced with the fact that this was not the case.
 

The Need

Pikes Peak Community College did not have an appropriate instructional methodology for Deaf students who lacked basic competence in English, mathematics, critical thinking, resource management, and life skills. Further investigation revealed that other colleges, Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Colorado School for the deaf and the Blind were also experiencing the problem we were facing. Deaf students were graduating from high school and leaving for Gallaudet or NTID, only to return in 6 to 12 months because they were under-prepared. Vocational rehabilitation counselors were having difficulty placing and keeping Deaf individuals in productive jobs because of their lack of basic skills.
 

The Response

Project Deaf Prep

The college and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB) gathered a variety of agencies to form a partnership that would address this problem. Those involved in this effort were: Pikes Peak Community College, the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Pikes Peak Center on Deafness, and the Pikes Peak Mental Health Center.

A task force made up of members of each of these organizations conducted planning meetings for approximately six months. The task force determined the parameters for this project and designed a rough outline for curriculum. They wanted the project to be:

• A cooperative, multi-agency effort
• In an adult environment, rather than high school, and
• Held in a Deaf-friendly agency.

They wanted the curriculum to be:

• Flexible and individualized based on authentic assessments
• Applied to the Deaf student’s chose occupation
• One which places behavioral as well as academic demands on the student, and
• Taught by Deaf instructors in American Sign Language

The curriculum for this program consists of:

• American Sign Language Levels I-IV
• Remedial English Levels I-IV
• Remedial Mathematics Levels I-IV
• Study Skills
• Critical Thinking
• Resource Management

At the end of the task force’s work, the college held an open forum for the Deaf community to evaluate the progress. Feedback from the community was positive and encouraging. As a result, a four-semester program called Deaf Prep was adopted and advertised around the community.

This curriculum, translated into college courses, becomes 17 credit hours per semester. Students are allowed to take a maximum of four semesters in Deaf Prep. During the second semester, and in subsequent semesters, students also enroll in mainstreamed college classes in areas of interest, or actually begin their intended courses of study.

Students may exit at any time to pursue additional education, to obtain employment, or to go to on-the-job training.

The program accepts (1) Deaf high school students who are in their junior or senior year; (2) Deaf high school students who have completed their credits for graduation but are not ready to terminate their connection with their high school; and (3) adults who need remediation in basic skills. Students receive thorough and comprehensive testing to determine their appropriate placement in the curriculum, discuss career options and expectations with an advisor, and prepare an individualized instructional plan.
 

Successes to Date

We anticipated an enrollment of eight to ten students for our first class. The first year we had 17, then 24, and now 26.This enrollment, and the extent of the need, was greater than we expected. Faculty support has been amazing. Deaf instructors from the community have become involved and have been willing to participate in development of curriculum and in instruction.

Service clubs in Colorado Springs have stepped forward to provide scholarships and equipment for students in Deaf Prep.

The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind renovated an old dorm into an apartment-like facility. Students who live there are able to transition from either a dormitory life or an at-home life into an independent lifestyle, while maintaining a safety net of support from the school.
 

Next Steps?

The faculty and staff of Deaf Prep will continue to revise the curriculum. Every year, just as they feel they are on top of the curriculum and are ready for the year, they receive a different group of students with different needs. Consequently, curriculum development has been a “work in progress.”

The college will be seeking an outside evaluator who will look at all of the aspects of the program and assist us in improving our infrastructure, our curriculum, our delivery of instruction, and our funding priorities.

This program has already drawn students from all areas of Colorado. The next step will be to reach outside the borders of Colorado and recruit students from other states.
 

Conclusion

This program meets a felt need in our community and, we believe, in the country. It has been overwhelmingly successful. Students who would have entered college and had negative experiences are now prepared to pursue their dreams.
 
 

Addendum

Note: The mathematics curriculum developed through Project Deaf Prep is now available at no cost from the PEPNet Resource Center. It is item number 1040. Go to http://prc.csun.edu or http://www.pepnet.org and click on Resource Center, e-mail prc@csun.edu or call 888-684-4695 (V/TTY).