Program Office: Office of Special Institutions
CFDA Number: 84.910
Program Type: Direct Appropriation
The U.S. Department of Education provides support for Gallaudet University in order to help promote education
and employment opportunities for persons who are deaf. The university provides a wide range of undergraduate,
graduate, and continuing education programs in fields related to deafness for students who are deaf and students
who are hearing.
Gallaudet also operates the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, which includes the Kendall
Demonstration Elementary School (KDES), which operates an elementary school for children who are deaf, and
the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD), which provides secondary education programs for students
who are deaf. The federal government funds these programs in order to support the development, evaluation, and
dissemination of model curricula, instructional techniques and strategies, and materials that can be used in a variety
of educational environments serving individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing throughout the nation. In FY
2006, the university enrolled 1,913 undergraduate and graduate students and 367 elementary and secondary
education students.
Gallaudet University offers a traditional liberal arts curriculum and graduate programs in fields related to deafness
for students who are deaf and hearing. To increase the effectiveness of its instructional programs, the university
provides communications training, counseling, and other support services for its students who are deaf. Gallaudet
also conducts a wide variety of basic and applied deafness research and provides public service programs for
persons who are deaf and professionals who work with persons who are deaf.