Deaf Education

What is the best Deaf Education program in US?

It depends on what you're looking for. Do you want to work in an oral program, Signed English, Simultaneous Communication, Cued Speech, ASL bilingual? What age do you want to teach? Do you want to have your own class, or work as an itinerant teacher? That will influence the program you choose. Gallaudet certainly has a big name, but ONLY in the signing programs (if you want to work in an oral setting, going to Gallaudet will work against you). And Gallaudet does NOT have a Deaf Education major for undergraduates, only graduates, so you need your BA in something else, such as elementary education, first. Many other universities offer undergraduate degrees in deaf ed. Also, Gallaudet has some limitations: they focus on K-12 bilingual deaf ed; that means you'll be prepared to work in an elementary, middle, or high school self-contained class or program for deaf students, but most jobs are itinerant and include at least some oral component, which is a weakness of Galladuet's program. If you're looking to work in a ASL/English bilingual elementary, middle, or high school and already have your bachelor's degree, Gallaudet's a great option and the name on your degree will give you some major points. Going to Gallaudet will also help you develop your ASL skills if you're weak in that area. You can find a list of all the deaf ed teacher preparation programs, along with their communication philosophy and age ranges (some only do elementary, some have early intervention, some cover K-12 or preschool-12, etc.) here: http://deafed.net/PageText.asp?hdnPageId=120. There is no place that ranks the programs. If you don't have a special interest in a communication method or population (deafblind, multiple disabilities, early intervention, bilingual, oral, etc.), then the best option would be to choose a program in the state that you want to work in. If there's more than one program, you can interview some of the schools that teach deaf children to see what they recommend, and talk to the university and current students to get their opinions on the program.