Dr. Jay J. Campbell
Dr. Jay J. Campbell. UAD Bulletin, June 1973.
Education of the Deaf in Utah:
A Comprehensive Study
Attached is Dr. Jay J. Campbell’s "Education of the Deaf in Utah:
A Comprehensive Study, February 15, 1977" book:
A Comprehensive Study, February 15, 1977" book:
A. FRONT COVER - Education of the Deaf in Utah
B. Study on the Education of the Deaf – Table of Contents
C. Introduction & Statement Problem 1 – 32
D. Study of Deaf Children in Utah School District 33 – 41
E. Sample of Opinions of Parents of Older Students at the Utah School for the Deaf 42 – 74
F. Input from the Professional Staff of the Utah School for the Deaf 75 – 90
G. Letters & Materials Received from National Leaders & Others in the Field of Education for the Deaf 91 – 104
H. Perceptions & Recommendations from Former Students 105 – 135
I. Recommendations from Professional Interpreters of the Deaf 126
J. Recommendations from Professional Counselors of the Deaf 127 – 129
K. Observations by the Writer 130 – 148
L. Report on the Utah School for the Deaf Submitted by Richard G. Keene 149 – 178
M. Conclusions 179 – 187
N. Recommendations 188 – 190
O. Appendix A 191
Education of Deaf Stirs Debate:
No Educational Action Taken
No Educational Action Taken
Dr. Grant B. Bitter
When the Utah State Board of Education approved the Dual Track Program (Known as Y System) in June 1962, the Utah School for the Deaf (USD) in Ogden was divided, with Oral and Simultaneous Communication Division each having its own separate classrooms, dormitory facilities, recess, and co-curricular activities, except athletic programs.
By the time, the Dual Track Program was initiated in August 1962, the philosophy of USD for prospective teachers changed to oral. Speech became the primary means of communication in the classroom for deaf students. The new policy was called a “Y” system, meaning that all children had to start in the oral program in the Primary Department. The USD administrators felt the Dual Track Program provided certain advantages that a single track could not offer.
The USD was divided into two channels. One channel was the Simultaneous Communication Division; the other channel presented an oral atmosphere. It was the beginning of the segregation of Deaf students. Despite the student strike in 1962 and again in 1969 against the “Y” system, no one listened.
In the Primary Department, a Deaf child was initially trained through the oral approach during his/her first six years of schooling. After six years in the residential school at Ogden, a committee meeting took place to determine whether or not to continue the oral program for that student or to transfer the student to the simultaneous communication program, based on school performance, test results and other factors.
For nearly ten years, the Utah Deaf community and parents who supported sign language fought against the “Y” system, and no one listened. Finally in 1970, the Utah State Board of Education approved a new policy in 1970 and again in 1977 to offer a dual track program, replacing the “Y” System, designed to provide parents a choice between the oral method or the total communication method of instruction for a Deaf child from 2 ½ to 21 years old of age.
However, parents were not given a complete picture of the educational methodologies available to their children. Inappropriate placement procedures were often made despite policies having been enacted by Utah State Board of Education in 1970, 1977 (mandated by the USBE) and 1998 USDB Communication Guidelines requiring USD to give parents full options from which to choose.
Dr. Jay J. Campbell, then Deputy Superintendent of the Utah State Office of Education and an ally of the Utah Deaf community, was appointed in 1966 by Utah State Office of Education to supervise the Utah School for the Deaf. During his supervision, he observed the constant controversy between Dr. Grant B. Bitter, a strong espouser of hard core oralism, and Dr. Robert G. Sanderson, a Deaf education advocate, as well as the controversy between the two programs at USD over communication methodology. In order to strengthen the USD programs, Dr. Campbell began a study on Deaf education in 1975, which was authorized by Utah State Board of Education.
After two years of comprehensive study and having worked with outside neutral researchers, Dr. Campbell finished the report on February 15, 1977. The results were based on data gathered between 1960 and 1977 and included those being mainstreamed in the school districts and those under the auspice of the Utah School for the Deaf. He hoped his study would help solve the constant controversy between oral and total communication and strengthen the programs at the Utah School for the Deaf.
On April 14, 1977, Dr. Campbell’s study with recommendations on improving USD’s education through fair evaluation and placement procedures was shared with the Utah State Board of Education.
During the study, the Utah State Office of Education appointed Dr. Robert G. Sanderson to conduct a survey of the alumni of the USD to confirm their feelings about the education they received at the school. The survey compared graduates from the USD prior to 1948, those who had graduated 1948 to 1959, and those who graduated 1960 to 1977. The results showed a marked difference in feelings. Those that graduated prior to 1949 seemed to like school, understood the teachers, and liked the administrators much better than those who graduated from 1960 to 1977. The results of the students graduating between 1949 and 1959 fell between the two other categories.
Under the influence of Dr. Bitter, then professor at the University of Utah, this study however stirred controversy among parents who advocated oral education. He gave his presentation against Dr. Campbell’s study, stating his report contained inaccuracies and inferences both about the Teacher Education Program, Area of the Deaf at the University of Utah and educational programs within the State of Utah.
While Dr. Bitter and Peter Viahos, an Ogden attorney and father of a Deaf daughter, gave a presentation, they received cheers and standing ovation from over 300 parents who advocated oralism. Again, under the influence of Dr. Bitter, the parents urged the State Board to suspend Dr. Campbell’s comprehensive study; they were so distressed with his study that they demanded that he be fired. Instead, the Utah State Board of Education reached the decision to replace Dr. Campbell with Dr. Lerue Winget. Dr. Walter D. Talbot, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, assigned Dr. Campbell to a different position at the Utah State Office of Education.
Soon after, Dr. Campbell's study was buried and forgotten. The trend at USD of establishing inappropriate placement procedures, partly due to unshared information, continued until the Parent Infant Program Orientation at USD was formed in 2010 to give fair, balanced options to parents of deaf children. The new changes that are finally taking place in the PIP after being recommended by Dr. Campbell, to establish an orientation in the 1970s that Dr. Bitter rejected.
Thanks go to Kenneth L. Kinner and Norman Williams for saving Dr. Jay J. Campbell's book all these years.
By the time, the Dual Track Program was initiated in August 1962, the philosophy of USD for prospective teachers changed to oral. Speech became the primary means of communication in the classroom for deaf students. The new policy was called a “Y” system, meaning that all children had to start in the oral program in the Primary Department. The USD administrators felt the Dual Track Program provided certain advantages that a single track could not offer.
The USD was divided into two channels. One channel was the Simultaneous Communication Division; the other channel presented an oral atmosphere. It was the beginning of the segregation of Deaf students. Despite the student strike in 1962 and again in 1969 against the “Y” system, no one listened.
In the Primary Department, a Deaf child was initially trained through the oral approach during his/her first six years of schooling. After six years in the residential school at Ogden, a committee meeting took place to determine whether or not to continue the oral program for that student or to transfer the student to the simultaneous communication program, based on school performance, test results and other factors.
For nearly ten years, the Utah Deaf community and parents who supported sign language fought against the “Y” system, and no one listened. Finally in 1970, the Utah State Board of Education approved a new policy in 1970 and again in 1977 to offer a dual track program, replacing the “Y” System, designed to provide parents a choice between the oral method or the total communication method of instruction for a Deaf child from 2 ½ to 21 years old of age.
However, parents were not given a complete picture of the educational methodologies available to their children. Inappropriate placement procedures were often made despite policies having been enacted by Utah State Board of Education in 1970, 1977 (mandated by the USBE) and 1998 USDB Communication Guidelines requiring USD to give parents full options from which to choose.
Dr. Jay J. Campbell, then Deputy Superintendent of the Utah State Office of Education and an ally of the Utah Deaf community, was appointed in 1966 by Utah State Office of Education to supervise the Utah School for the Deaf. During his supervision, he observed the constant controversy between Dr. Grant B. Bitter, a strong espouser of hard core oralism, and Dr. Robert G. Sanderson, a Deaf education advocate, as well as the controversy between the two programs at USD over communication methodology. In order to strengthen the USD programs, Dr. Campbell began a study on Deaf education in 1975, which was authorized by Utah State Board of Education.
After two years of comprehensive study and having worked with outside neutral researchers, Dr. Campbell finished the report on February 15, 1977. The results were based on data gathered between 1960 and 1977 and included those being mainstreamed in the school districts and those under the auspice of the Utah School for the Deaf. He hoped his study would help solve the constant controversy between oral and total communication and strengthen the programs at the Utah School for the Deaf.
On April 14, 1977, Dr. Campbell’s study with recommendations on improving USD’s education through fair evaluation and placement procedures was shared with the Utah State Board of Education.
During the study, the Utah State Office of Education appointed Dr. Robert G. Sanderson to conduct a survey of the alumni of the USD to confirm their feelings about the education they received at the school. The survey compared graduates from the USD prior to 1948, those who had graduated 1948 to 1959, and those who graduated 1960 to 1977. The results showed a marked difference in feelings. Those that graduated prior to 1949 seemed to like school, understood the teachers, and liked the administrators much better than those who graduated from 1960 to 1977. The results of the students graduating between 1949 and 1959 fell between the two other categories.
Under the influence of Dr. Bitter, then professor at the University of Utah, this study however stirred controversy among parents who advocated oral education. He gave his presentation against Dr. Campbell’s study, stating his report contained inaccuracies and inferences both about the Teacher Education Program, Area of the Deaf at the University of Utah and educational programs within the State of Utah.
While Dr. Bitter and Peter Viahos, an Ogden attorney and father of a Deaf daughter, gave a presentation, they received cheers and standing ovation from over 300 parents who advocated oralism. Again, under the influence of Dr. Bitter, the parents urged the State Board to suspend Dr. Campbell’s comprehensive study; they were so distressed with his study that they demanded that he be fired. Instead, the Utah State Board of Education reached the decision to replace Dr. Campbell with Dr. Lerue Winget. Dr. Walter D. Talbot, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, assigned Dr. Campbell to a different position at the Utah State Office of Education.
Soon after, Dr. Campbell's study was buried and forgotten. The trend at USD of establishing inappropriate placement procedures, partly due to unshared information, continued until the Parent Infant Program Orientation at USD was formed in 2010 to give fair, balanced options to parents of deaf children. The new changes that are finally taking place in the PIP after being recommended by Dr. Campbell, to establish an orientation in the 1970s that Dr. Bitter rejected.
Thanks go to Kenneth L. Kinner and Norman Williams for saving Dr. Jay J. Campbell's book all these years.
Dr. Campbell's Biography
Dr. Campbell has a Bachelor’s degree from Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho which he received in 1950. In 1951, he completed his Master’s degree from the University of Utah. He earned his Ed. D. degree from the University of Utah in 1957.
He is married to Beth Ann Stewart, a well-known figure in the Utah Deaf community. As a child of deaf parents, she has the distinction as being the first nationally certified interpreter in the United States and she is also a former director of the Utah Community Center for the Deaf.
After retirement, they enjoyed escorting both deaf and hearing people on tours (Cruises and Bus Tours). They also served as full-time missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Family and Church History Mission for one year starting January 3, 2003. They then served as missionaries at the Utah State Prison from March, 2004 to July 22, 2009. They keep busy reading, Church Work, Utah Daughters of the Pioneers. Jay still directs the "Swanee Singers" and some traveling.
He is married to Beth Ann Stewart, a well-known figure in the Utah Deaf community. As a child of deaf parents, she has the distinction as being the first nationally certified interpreter in the United States and she is also a former director of the Utah Community Center for the Deaf.
After retirement, they enjoyed escorting both deaf and hearing people on tours (Cruises and Bus Tours). They also served as full-time missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Family and Church History Mission for one year starting January 3, 2003. They then served as missionaries at the Utah State Prison from March, 2004 to July 22, 2009. They keep busy reading, Church Work, Utah Daughters of the Pioneers. Jay still directs the "Swanee Singers" and some traveling.