Closed Captioning of Educational Videos

WHEREAS, the use of educational videos is commonplace in Oregon’s public schools; and

WHEREAS, less than 20% of current educational videos are closed captioned; and

WHEREAS, educational videos made solely for classroom use do not fall under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 requiring closed captioning; and

WHEREAS, the use of non-closed-captioned films in classrooms effectively excludes deaf or hearing-impaired students from the activity; and

WHEREAS, the value of captioned videos is recognized by special education professionals to be of value in facilitating the language acquisition and reading skills of learning disabled, English language learners, and other students whose learning modality requirements strongly rely on visual rather than auditory input, as well as the general student population.

THEREFORE, that the Oregon School Boards Association strongly recommends that, when ordering new educational materials, school districts specify a preference for videos that are closed captioned.