The Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf: A Research?Practice Partnership to Inform Policy and Practice

The Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf (ENCSD) in Wilson, NC, has served students from 54 eastern counties since 1964 and currently enrolls 42 students across elementary, middle, and high school programs. Partnering with East Carolina University (ECU), this project will examine how ENCSD?s administrative structures, operations, and educational practices influence academic, social-emotional, and post-school outcomes for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Guided by a Transformative Case Study design and grounded in a Research?Practice Partnership (RPP) framework, the study positions Deaf community members and other stakeholders as co-researchers throughout all phases of inquiry. Using mixed methods with a qualitative emphasis, the team will analyze student and organizational data, conduct interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations, and collaboratively review findings with ENCSD staff, families, and state partners. The study will identify practices that enhance student success and uncover structural barriers to efficiency and equity. Outcomes will inform evidence-based recommendations to strengthen ENCSD?s capacity, guide state policy, and advance equity-driven, community-engaged approaches for North Carolina?s specialty schools for the Deaf and Blind.

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