Strategies for Achieving the Goal Statements

Goal 1: Referral

Students and their families will be referred to an appropriate education program within 30 days of identification of a suspected visual impairment. Teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility (O&M) instructors will provide appropriate quality services.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Identify existing fact sheets and other materials describing visual impairments in children and youths and incorporate them into a single document, which addresses:

• Observable signs of visual impairments in children,
• Recommended procedures for referral to appropriate services,
• Guidelines for developing working relationships among families, educators, related service providers, and medical and health care professionals,
• Suggestions for encouraging health care management organizations to include these materials in their public education materials.

2. Identify members of the National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (NAPVI) and other parent organizations within each state able to serve as contact persons and to provide referral information such as is delineated in National Strategy #1, above.

3. Work with professional organizations to ensure that their members have the necessary knowledge to serve as advocates for early referral of children with visual impairments including those with multiple disabilities. Organizations should include but not be limited to those whose members include:

• Eye care specialists,
• Neonatologists,
• Regular education as well as special education personnel.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Work with Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), day care and Head Start centers, public service organizations, and others to:

• Disseminate materials regarding visual impairments and referral procedures, including resources for state and local contacts,
• Provide eye care professionals and related service providers with public education materials regarding identification and referral of children with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

2. Work with early childhood education intervention coordinators within each state to develop effective referral systems.

Goal 2: Parent Participation

Policies and procedures will be implemented to ensure the right of all parents to full participation and equal partnership in the education process.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Establish within the National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (NAPVI) an advisory committee, specific to the unique needs of students with visual impairments including those with multiple disabilities, to promote increased collaboration among parents, professionals, and government agencies.

2. Establish parent/teacher training centers with emphasis on parent-to-parent mentoring, parent-professional dialogue, and resource development.

3. Create and disseminate an array of educational resources for parents which includes among others the following:

• Information on the full array of educational options,
• National Outcome Standards,
• Explanation of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process, including sample IEPs for students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

4. Develop partnerships among students, parents, educators, and administrators that ensure communication, mutual respect, and the provision of educational services within a child-centered climate.

5. Encourage all personnel preparation programs and the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP) to adopt competencies and standards relating to parents of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Establish parent advisory boards at state and local levels specific to the needs of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

2. Disseminate the array of educational resources for parents developed through National Strategy #3 above at regional, state, and local levels.

3. Develop state and local mentoring programs that link experienced parents with families of newly diagnosed children who have visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

4. Conduct family-centered conferences, involving medical as well as education professionals, that focus on advocacy related to developmental and educational needs of students with visual impairments including those with multiple disabilities.

5. Draft and facilitate passage of legislation that would require Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to collect, document, and publish data reflecting parents' satisfaction levels with the IEP process and educational services that impact upon the LEAs' compliance with state and federal laws.

Goal 3: Personnel Preparation

Universities with a minimum of one full-time faculty member in the area of visual impairment will prepare a sufficient number of teachers and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists for students with visual impairments to meet personnel needs throughout the country.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Develop a model of excellence for personnel preparation.

2. Encourage establishment of a national research center on the education of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

3. Develop a collaborative national recruitment program in conjunction with the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER).

4. Encourage all university personnel preparation programs in the area of education of students with visual impairments to implement national standards.

5. Determine the number of teachers of students with visual impairments, as well as orientation and mobility specialists, who graduate from university preparation programs annually. Ensure that the number who will graduate each year is the same or greater than the number for the preceding year.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Encourage collaborative planning among special education administrators and personnel preparation programs to establish and provide professional development programs.

2. Develop, in conjunction with state departments of education, accurate counts of the number of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities, served in each state.

3. Establish systems of career leadership options that incorporate, among other categories, mentors, master teachers, master orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists, and teachers-as-researchers.

4. Facilitate a means for achieving reciprocity of teacher credentialing among all states.

5. Identify incentives by which school districts can be encouraged to ensure that teachers with "emergency credentials" become appropriately credentialed in the area of education for students with visual impairments including those with multiple disabilities.

Goal 4: Provision of Educational Services

Caseloads will be determined based on the assessed needs of students.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Develop and disseminate a position paper that makes a clear and unequivocal statement about appropriate caseloads for teachers of visually impaired students and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists and that is endorsed by parent, consumer, and professional organizations.

2. Identify and publicize approaches to service delivery options that are both innovative and meet the educational needs of students who have visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

3. Develop a system for child-centered caseload analysis, population analysis, and job descriptions for teachers of students with visual impairments and O&M specialists in various service delivery models.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Promote the use of data obtained through implementation of National Strategy #3 above to assist Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to establish guidelines for determining appropriate size and composition of student caseloads.

2. Encourage state departments of education to include guidelines for determining appropriate caseload size and composition in state special education plans.

3. Provide data on various service delivery models that will assist LEAs in developing and implementing appropriate program options.

Goal 5: Array of Services

Local education programs will ensure that all students have access to a full array of service delivery options.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Encourage the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEPS) to both adopt the policy statement entitled "Policy Guidance on the Education of Blind or Visually Impaired Students" and promote its implementation nationally among the following:

• State departments of education,
• Professional organizations,
• Parent organizations,
• Consumer organizations,
• Other related service organizations such as Easter Seals and Lions Clubs.

2. Develop ongoing relationships with the above organizations and others as appropriate for the purpose of promoting advocacy for a full array of placement options.

3. Conduct public education campaigns that illustrate personal success stories across all components of the educational placement array.

4. Develop an information package addressed to administrators of regular and special education programs and parents that includes, but is not limited to:

• All relevant OSEPS policy statements,
• All relevant position papers on full array of placement options,
• Descriptions of each placement option within the array,
• Comprehensive legal briefs targeted to IEP teams and parents addressing placement in the least restrictive environment (LRE),
• Descriptions of parents' rights and due process.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Disseminate all relevant OSEPS policy statements to state and local organizations and individuals concerned with the education of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

2. Provide in-service training for individuals involved in making program and placement decisions regarding students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities. This should include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Information about each of the service delivery models included in a full array of placement options,
• Strategies for application of this knowledge as it relates to decisions regarding placements.

Goal 6: Assessment

All assessments and evaluations of students will be conducted by or in partnership with personnel having expertise in the education of students with visual impairments and their parents.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Using the expanded core curriculum for students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities (refer to Goal Statement #8), develop and distribute guidelines for selection and administration of assessment instruments and interpretation of their results.

2. Establish a national resource bank on assessment of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities, that would:

• Compile a bibliography of resources, articles, books, and tools addressing assessment issues,
• Identify exemplary assessment models and components and disseminate information describing them,
• Establish a national listing of professionals and parents with expertise in assessment who are available to provide consultation and training.

3. Develop assessment team training curricula for educators and related service providers who assess children and youths with visual impairments including those with multiple disabilities and disseminate by:

• Conducting workshops using the curricula at conferences of the appropriate professionals and related service providers,
• Producing training videos for targeted audiences demonstrating an outcome-based comprehensive assessment.

4. Provide resources and information to personnel preparation programs in related service areas designed to facilitate and encourage the use of transdisciplinary assessments.

5. Encourage the widespread dissemination and application of the Council for Exceptional Children/Division for Visually Handicapped (CEC/DVH) position paper on assessment of children and youths with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Work through state education agencies to develop policies to ensure participation of a teacher of students with visual impairments and, as warranted, an orientation and mobility specialist in assessments of all students with diagnosed or suspected visual impairments.

2. Apply the assessment team training curricula developed through National Strategy #3 above at regional, state, and local conferences of educators and providers of related services.

3. Write and distribute guidelines for addressing the needs of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities, to developers of standardized state-adopted testing programs.

Goal 7: Access to Instructional Materials

Access to developmental and educational services will include an assurance that textbooks and instructional materials are available to students in the appropriate media and at the same time as their sighted peers.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Report to the field the current status of production and acquisition of materials in specialized formats and media appropriate for meeting developmental and educational needs of students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

2. Work toward establishment of a national repository of publisher electronic files for production of textbooks in braille and other specialized formats.

3. Gain passage of legislation at all levels that ensures timely access to educational materials in appropriate formats for all students with visual impairments.

4. Secure timely copyright permission for production of large type and braille materials through such efforts as:

• Advocating for revisions as appropriate of the National Copyright Act,
• Encouraging stipulations regarding copyright permission in author-publisher contracts,
• Negotiating with publishers to ensure that accessibility needs of visually impaired students are provided for when producing multimedia educational materials.

5. Develop and disseminate comprehensive guidelines to ensure quality control in the production of educational materials in specialized formats, including meaningful tactile graphics.

6. Work with teachers and other direct service providers to ensure that access to print, using optical devices as appropriate, is included in all considerations of appropriate media for students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

7. Support full implementation of a national instructional materials accessibility standard (NIMAS).

8. Support a professionally based, accredited college curriculum for braille textbook transcribers.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Assist state and local education agencies to increase production and timely distribution of educational materials in specialized formats such as braille, recorded, large print, and electronic.

2. Encourage state and local education agencies to ensure that vision-specific needs are addressed in the selection and adoption processes for textbooks and other educational materials.

3. Decrease the reliance on scanning and direct entry in the production of textbooks in favor of the use of publishers' electronic files.

4. Provide information and materials to assist with training or professional development of service providers who must identify and/or modify educational materials to meet needs of visually impaired students, including those with multiple disabilities.

5. Work with state departments of education and other agencies as appropriate to ensure that computer hardware and software procured for instructional use are accessible to visually impaired students.

Goal 8: Expanded Core Curriculum

All educational goals and instruction will address the academic and expanded core curricula based on the assessed needs of each student with visual impairments.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Clearly define, develop, and disseminate the expanded core curriculum areas for students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

2. Evaluate and catalog curricular guides and make them available for dissemination along with model goals that are disability-specific and appropriately written for inclusion in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

3. Write curricular content for expanded core curriculum areas as needed.

4. Make annotated bibliographies available either in hard copy or through electronic means to professionals and parents.

5. Work to obtain formal adoption of the expanded core curriculum by national organizations of professionals and others.

6. Work to ensure that personnel preparation and professional development programs adopt and teach the use of the expanded core curriculum.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Identify and present to target audiencesÑstudents, parents, local education agencies, and othersÑknowledge of the expanded core curriculum.

2. Condense and rewrite one-page descriptions of the expanded core curriculum for each constituent audience.

3. Organize awareness materials to be used at meetings of each constituent audience.

4. Educate those responsible for writing IEP goals to ensure that goals and objectives are based on assessment data related to the expanded core curriculum.

5. Collaborate with universities and adult service agencies to ensure that programs serving students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities, are appropriately preparing them for their futures.

Goal 9: Transition

Transition services will address developmental and educational needs (birth through high school) to assist students and their families in setting goals and implementing strategies through the life continuum commensurate with the students' aptitudes, interests, and abilities.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Identify existing materials that are available to facilitate the transition process for children and youths with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities.

2. Identify members of the National Transition Network and other organized groups of transition service providers within each state who are able to serve as contact persons and to provide information or referral to appropriate transition services.

3. Disseminate information about successful transition programs and resources throughout the United States.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Present workshops and in-service training to parents and personnel working with children and adolescents with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities, on the importance of teaching career education content throughout the children's early years and their academic careers.

2. Encourage the inclusion of career education and transition content in the personnel preparation programs.

3. Encourage the active participation of young people with visual impairments and their families in the planning and implementation of local transition services.

4. Involve community-based adult service providers to participate in the planning and implementation of local transition services.

Goal 10: Professional Development

To improve students' learning, service providers will engage in ongoing local, state, and national professional development.

Recommended NATIONAL Strategies

1. Promote "standards of effective practice" that clearly articulate the knowledge and skills required to deliver quality instruction to students with visual impairments (This will validate the need to provide ongoing professional development).

2. Develop and disseminate a position paper on the need for ongoing professional development based on standards and the unique needs of service providers who teach students with visual impairments.

3. Integrate the National Staff Development Council's (NSDC) revised "Standards for Staff Development" into recommended staff development activities for service providers of students with visual impairments.

4. Focus staff development on student learning outcomes.

Recommended REGIONAL, STATE, and/or LOCAL Strategies

1. Encourage teachers to engage in reflective practices that include a yearly review of their teaching activities and the development of a professional development plan with goals and activities.

2. Encourage a variety of designs in staff development activities that go beyond a one-day workshop and promote job-embedded learning, such as professional learning groups, mentorships, action research, journaling, and observing others.

3. Encourage training activities that include parents and teachers teaching and learning together in subjects such as braille and use of low vision devices.

4. Align and integrate the staff development goals for service providers of students with visual impairments with local, state, and regional staff development goals.