This document presents testimony examining issues concerning the education of students with deafness and exploring ways to strengthen federal legislation to ensure an appropriate quality education for these students. The hearing focuses specifically on reauthorization of the Education of the Deaf Act, which authorizes funding for Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.), the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (Rochester, New York), and model demonstration schools. The act also created the Commission on Education of the Deaf which recommends improvements in the education of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The testimony deals with early identification and intervention, student placement, communication skills, parent involvement, professional standards, and other topics. The document contains statements, prepared statements, letters, and supplemental materials from: (1) Congressional Representatives Major R. Owens and Donald M. Payne; (2) the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services of the Department of Education; (3) representatives of the Commission on Education of the Deaf, Gallaudet University, and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf; and (4) representatives from the Council of Organizational Representatives, the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf, the National Association of the Deaf, the American Society for Deaf Children, the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the California Center for Law and the Deaf, the City University of New York, and the National Cued Speech Association. (JDD)