National profile of deaf and hard of hearing students in special education from weighted survey results.

Data from the 1999-2000 Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Youth (GRI Annual Survey; Gallaudet Research Institute, 2000) are systematically compared with those summarized by the U.S. Department of Education (2001, 2002) in the Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to estimate the degree to which findings based on the GRI Annual Survey sample are likely to be representative of the population of deaf and hard of hearing children and youth served under IDEA. An appropriate weighting system is then applied to provide more nationally representative estimates of the characteristics of deaf and hard of hearing students served under IDEA and, more important, to provide a better national description of these students and the services they receive than would otherwise be available.