All children who currently are eligible for specialized services will remain eligible for services and will be referred for services. The criteria shall ensure that all children needing or receiving specialized services will receive all services and procedural safeguards per requirements in Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The agreement is adopted and in effect until this agreement is amended or another agreement is signed. Excellence is defined as performance that meets or exceeds real world requirements.
Equity is defined as the attainment of the same level of performance by all population groups.
Persons responsible for oversight and implementation of this agreement recognize that children who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who have a visual impairment, or who are deaf- blind are children first. Each child, whatever his or her ability, has significant contributions to make to society. Services based on thorough assessment of individual and family needs focus on enabling or causing others to enable each child's maximum potential through appropriate individualized programming. In order to make informed choices about their service needs and preferences, families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing must be given specific information about communication, language, all available educational options and culture. A visual impairment has a significant impact on incidental learning and concept development.