Kansas School for the Deaf struggles with national shortage of specialized teachers

Kansas deaf education task force member Kylie Stewart, center, said the state needed to address the teacher shortage in deaf education. She said the School for the Deaf student deficits in reading and math assessments needed to be a priority of the Kansas State Board of Education and the Kansas Legislature. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

OLATHE — Lack of a Kansas-based bachelor’s degree program to prepare specialists in teaching of deaf or hard of hearing students complicates the challenge of hiring fully qualified staff at the Kansas School for the Deaf.

Members of a task force appointed by the Kansas State Board of Education to consider solutions to deaf education issues also say uncompetitive salaries at the state’s school for 150 elementary and secondary students in Olathe made it challenging to attract educators once they’ve completed bachelor’s or master’s degrees in other states.

One member of the task force, which met at the School for the Deaf on Thursday to work on reform recommendations, said it was time the state Board of Education amended unrealistic licensing standards that made it too arduous for people drawn to the field of deaf education to secure mandated graduate-level credentials.

“The real-world impact of that is KSD can’t find teachers,” said Zach Wentz, a task force member representing School for the Deaf parents. “As a result they don’t do performance reviews the way that they’re supposed to and, so actually, you have teachers who shouldn’t be here because they’re not being held accountable. You’re motivating the school to make that decision because they know they can’t replace them if they get rid of them.”

Members of the task force likewise suggested Kansas begin subsidizing tuition and fees for students enrolled in deaf education programs.

In addition, task force members said, the state could pay stipends to out-of-state student teachers who would complete that undergraduate obligation at School for the Deaf and possibly remain in Kansas to take these hard-to-fill special education jobs.

Only 165 of the state’s 36,000 licensed classroom teachers hold a license for deaf education, according to the Kansas Department of Education.

“If that’s your kid sitting in that classroom, you’re thinking, can the state not figure out a way to simplify this a little bit but still ensure that teachers have their skills? That almost seems like a no-win situation right now with the teacher shortage,” said Kylie Stewart, a task force member and a college special education instructor.

She said changes need to be made to improve reading and math assessment scores for students enrolled there.

Luanne Barron, superintendent of the School for the Deaf, said 57% of the current staff at the school had dual licenses to teach in the education field and to instruct deaf students. The remainder of the school’s staff lacked a portion of that licensing package, she said, but were allowed to provide instruction on a temporary basis.

“One thing that I think that Kansas really needs to invest the time and energy into is … identifying a university who will take the lead and house a deaf ed program,” Barron said.

She said the University of Kansas’ decision to phase out its deaf education degree in 2019 after a long period of declining enrollment took away a cadre of students who could complete student teaching requirements at School for the Deaf.

“The last few years,” she said, “we haven’t had anybody come as a student teacher.”

Shane Carter, director of teacher licensing in the Kansas State Department of Education, told the task force that establishing a bachelor’s degree in deaf education at a Kansas college or university was a “very sound” strategy.

He pushed back on the idea Kansas education licensure standards were driving the shortage of deaf education professionals in the state.

To help fill the more immediate teacher gap, the School for the Deaf superintendent said, Kansas should consider authorizing the awarding of certificates in deaf education after completion of a certain number of specialized courses. Or, she said, the state could allow individuals to take a comprehensive exam to demonstrate proficiency in the instruction of deaf students.

“The problem is convincing universities to set up some sort of certificate program, while also convincing the (state) Board of Education to accept it. You have to do both,” Barron said.

Lisa Karney, the task force chair who holds master’s degrees in special education and deaf education, said it would be a mistake to make changes that compromised academic rigor of teacher preparation requirements.

In part, she said, her hesitancy to embrace sweeping licensing changes reflected the immersive educational demands placed on teachers at the School for the Deaf.

“It’s crucial that you keep the rigor,” Karney said. “There’s the whole spectrum that has to be looked at and offered and taught.”