TABLE 4.

Primary and Exploratory Multilevel Ordinal Logistic Regressions Predicting Higher Proficiency Level on the Basis of Birth Cohort, Grade Level, Presence of Other Disabilities, Language in the Home, FRL Status, and Laterality and Degree of Hearing Loss

Effect	Primary Analysis			Exploratory Analysis: Degree of Hearing Loss
	Coefficient	OR	95% CI	Coefficient	OR	95% CI
Intercept	−1.53	0.22	0.11 ∓0.44	−0.82	0.44	0.17–1.17
Threshold δ2	2.98	19.73	14.61–26.64	3.20	24.58	16.93–35.69
Birth year	0.21	1.23	1.13–1.35	0.12	1.13	1.01–1.26
Multiple disabilities	−1.34	0.26	0.08–0.85	−2.05	0.13	0.03–0.59
Home language	−1.53	0.22	0.11–0.45	−1.64	0.19	0.09–0.44
Grade	0.20	1.22	1.13–1.32	0.19	1.21	1.11–1.33
FRL status	−1.24	0.29	0.16–0.51	−1.39	0.25	0.12–0.51
Bilateral, mild or moderate	—	—	—	−0.43	0.65	0.26–1.62
Bilateral, severe to profound	—	—	—	−1.82	0.16	0.06–0.46

Primary analyses: δ₂, grade, FRL degrees of freedom = 1098; all other degrees of freedom = 317. Exploratory analyses examining degree of hearing loss: δ₂ grade, FRL degrees of freedom = 847; all other degrees of freedom = 236. “Birth year” represents the year of birth based on the academic year and centered on 2000–2001. “Multiple disabilities” is defined as follows: 0 = hearing loss only; 1 = presence of an additional disability. “Home language” represents the primary language in the home (0 = English; 1 = any language other than English). “Grade” represents the grade in school. “FRL status” is defined as follows: 0 = not identified as eligible for FRL; 1 = identified as eligible for FRL. “Bilateral, mild or moderate” represents the degree of hearing loss (0 = unilateral or bilateral, severe to profound; 1 = bilateral, mild or moderate). “Bilateral, severe to profound” represents the degree of hearing loss (0 = unilateral or bilateral, mild or moderate; 1 = bilateral, severe to profound). δ2 is an additional term needed to reflect the distinction between 3 categories; —, indicates variables not included in the primary analysis mode.