Assessing English literacy as a predictor of postschool outcomes in the lives of deaf individuals.

Lower English literacy achievement of deaf students is often hypothesized to be an impediment for successful adult life experiences. Yet, literacy practices that individuals engage in throughout their daily lives are much more complex than what school-based measures of English can capture and particularly so for deaf individuals. A national large-scale data set with a sample of over 1,000 deaf youths was used to assess what, precisely, standardized measures of literacy may predict in terms of postschool outcomes in three domains: life, employment, and education. Regression analyses indicate that these measures predicted some postschool outcomes, but not all, and if significant, only a small amount of variation in the outcomes was explained. Findings suggest that English literacy, particularly the narrow conceptualization of English literacy skills that are measured through school-based assessments, may not play a significant role in the lives of deaf individuals, contrary to expectations.