What's up, Billy Jo? Deaf children and bilingual-bicultural instruction in east-central Texas

Seven deaf children attended a bilingual-bicultural (bi-bi) prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade from 1993 to 1996 in an east-central Texas public school. The children had diverse backgrounds (African American, Hispanic, White) and various intellectual, cognitive, and linguistic abilities. We detail the backgrounds of the seven children and their families and describe three bi-bi classrooms. We present standardized test scores on cognition (Bracken Test of Basic Concepts) and academic achievement (Stanford Achievement Test, 9th edition, and Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery). When, with one exception, the children completed first grade, they all tested at grade level. (The exception was a younger child who had only completed kindergarten but who nonetheless tested at the first-grade level). We interpret our findings in light of theories of first- and second-language acquisition and discuss the feasibility of establishing bi-bi programs in areas where no large Deaf community exists. We also note our plans to evaluate the seven children again, at the end of second grade in spring 1997.