The proposed priority is titled “Achieving Equity in Deaf Education” written by Natnail Tolossa and seconded by Aubrie Bauer.

The problem to be addressed that schools with larger deaf and hard of hearing enrollments often have more access to resources. Schools with smaller enrollments or students in mainstream schools most likely do not have access to the same amount of resources. Resources and information and training on things such as bilingual education, recruiting/retaining employees, instruction methods and strategies and quality extracurricular programs should be shared to benefit more schools and programs equitably.

The proposed solution is to have the NAD partner with CEASD and NDEC and NAD Education Advocates to explore how schools with larger enrollment numbers of deaf and hard of hearing students can share resources with smaller schools of the deaf and mainstreamed programs that may need assistance.

The rationale is because we want to ensure that all deaf and hard of hearing students receive top quality education and extracurricular activities. By encouraging our bigger and successful schools to share knowledge and resources, all students will have increased access to top-notch quality of life at schools. This priority will also ensure that NAD Education Advocates work with schools to develop best practices and to encourage the schools to achieve CEASD accreditation. By working with NDEC, CEASD and NAD Education Advocates, more teachers and staff will have access to a wide variety of training in critical areas of raising quality in schools.

The fiscal impact will include NAD staff and NAD Education Advocates that will be involved with this project. Potential revenue may come from schools that send their staff members to NDEC conferences.

The NAD Board/HQ responded that the NAD through its staff, NDEC, and Education Advocates, is already working closely with CEASD to identify and promote best practices to all schools, and the NAD is in support of this proposal.