Every rule the Index runs on, published and versioned.
The method is a set of governance documents that bind every session and every state file. Each is published at the version in force with its issue date, and every superseded version stays in the archive at its own URL. A state file states which versions it was compiled under.
Read it in the order it is applied
Primary sources only
Every figure carries a year and a source. Nothing is estimated, modeled, or inferred. Each state is audited exhaustively at the local education agency level wherever the frame is tractable; where it is not, a stated and reproducible sampling frame is published in its place and everything outside it is coded OUT OF FRAME rather than left silent. Statutes are quoted from the served text with retrieval dates, never paraphrased from summaries. Where two official sources disagree, both are preserved and the conflict is recorded. Beliefs carried into a file are marked as beliefs and are verified or recorded as dissolved. Interpretation is marked as interpretation and kept separate from fact. Where the record is silent, the file says the record is silent and says what was searched. A release is a human act: no automated pipeline releases a file.
The method is a set of governance documents that bind every session and every state file. Each is published at the version in force with its issue date, every superseded version stays in the archive at its own URL, and a state file states which versions it was compiled under. The five tabs on this page follow the order in which the method is applied: what is collected, how each district is coded, what a state file contains, what governs the work, and what has not yet been resolved.
TSIS POM DAB TSI yog ib lo lus hais txog kev tshaj tawm, tsis yog hais txog kev pab cuam kev pab.
Cov luag haujlwm raws li IDEA tsis yog pov thawj ntawm ib qhov kev pab cuam.
Three dimensions, each with its own evidentiary burden
Every state file is built to the same governance corpus, so a figure in one state means the same thing in another.
Kev nkag npe thiab kev muab tso rau qhov chaw
How many Deaf and hard-of-hearing students a state identifies, where the count is taken and on what date, whether it is published at the district level or only in aggregate, what suppression rules apply, and whether state school populations sit inside or outside the statewide figure. The standing trap is the conflation of campus enrollment with outreach caseload.
Kev faib nyiaj txiag
What public money reaches Deaf education and through which instruments: named appropriation lines for state schools, general formula funding where it reaches sensory-impairment institutions, federal flow-through under IDEA Parts B and C, categorical and low-incidence grants, tuition and transfer mechanisms between districts, and the voucher and education savings account market. One row per funding channel, with amount, fiscal year, instrument, and citation.
Cov txheej txheem tsim koom haum
The governance, statutory, and administrative architecture that determines who is responsible for a Deaf student's education: the operating authority of each state school with its statute quoted, the coordinating body, the eligibility rule and any audiometric threshold, interpreter qualification standards, language acquisition legislation, the early intervention lead agency, and the regional and cooperative layer.
The frame
Deaf education is treated as an infrastructure question, not an institutional one. In frame are state schools for the Deaf whatever their governance; residential and day programs; charter schools serving Deaf students; district programs, whether center-based, cluster, or itinerant; regional, cooperative, and intermediate-unit programs; listening and spoken language providers and other private placements; statewide outreach and technical assistance units; early intervention; deafblind projects; newborn hearing screening systems; transition and post-secondary programs identifiable as serving Deaf students; and the coordinating councils, commissions, and offices that hold policy responsibility. Programs for blind and visually impaired students are out of frame except where they share an institution, a board, a funding line, or an administrative division with Deaf provision, in which case the boundary is drawn explicitly and the reasoning is published.
One code per local education agency in frame
Plain-language glosses; the binding definitions and the normalizations in force are in the coding framework, FRM-004. The distinction between NOT VERIFIABLE and NOT AUDITED is stated in every workbook, and the pass at which a code was set is recorded row by row.
| Code | In short |
|---|---|
| PROGRAM | The agency's own published material describes a Deaf or hard-of-hearing program or service of its own |
| MENTION | The agency's own published material mentions Deaf or hard-of-hearing students or services without describing a program |
| NONE FOUND | The agency's presence was audited and nothing was found; a statement about publication, not about service delivery |
| NOT VERIFIABLE | The agency's presence could not be reached, or could not be verified as the agency's |
| NOT AUDITED | In frame, and not audited in this version; the pass at which a code is set is recorded |
| OUT OF FRAME | Outside the stated frame, and coded so rather than left silent |
| NOT OPERATING | A sanctioned historical deviation for a unit that is not operating, recorded in the decision register |
The summary measures
From the coverage codes each file reports tallies by code and by entity type, with percentages against both the full frame and the readable subset; the two-sided operator silence counts, run separately for each statewide provider, with affirmative lists; and publication against identified population where the state's data supports it. Every tally is computed in the build script and written as a static value, because an audited figure is never left to spreadsheet recalculation.
TSIS POM DAB TSI yog ib lo lus hais txog kev tshaj tawm, tsis yog hais txog kev pab cuam kev pab.
Cov luag haujlwm raws li IDEA tsis yog pov thawj ntawm ib qhov kev pab cuam.
Three deliverables per state
A narrative profile a reader reads, a machine-readable workbook, and a verification trail that makes the other two auditable. The trail is not an appendix: it records what was verified directly, what rests on subagent report, what corrections were made and in which direction, and what should be re-run first.
| Ntu | Yam uas nws muaj |
|---|---|
| 1. Summary of findings | The findings a reader must not miss, with the summary measures |
| 2. Governance and legal framework | Statutes and rules quoted verbatim with retrieval dates; eligibility; interpreter standards; language acquisition legislation |
| 3. The state school or schools | Operating authority, statutory basis, funding mechanics, enrollment, residential terms, admission criteria verbatim, leadership, accreditation, the Deaf and blind boundary |
| 4. Communication and language approach | Cov kev xav tau tshaj tawm raws li tau sau tseg |
| 5. Outreach and early intervention | The statewide layer and coverage beyond the campus |
| 6. Local education agencies and regional programs | The district and cooperative layer |
| 7. The private and listening and spoken language sector | Private placements and providers |
| 8. The market layer | Vouchers, scholarships, and education savings accounts, including repealed instruments |
| 9. What local education agencies publish | The coverage codes, with evidence notes and sources |
| 10. Data, and what the state does not measure | Every indicator with year and source, and the statement of what is not published |
| 11. Fiscal allocation and legislative context | One row per funding channel, with citation |
| 12. Open items | What remains unresolved |
| 13. Notice and correction | The bodies noticed, the date, the route, the responses, and every resulting change with its direction |
| 14. Sources | Every source, numbered, with access dates |
| Sheet | Yam uas nws muaj |
|---|---|
| README | The evidence standard, the frame statement, the coding scheme, the two formulations, the publisher of record, the baseline label, the reference-year mapping, the license terms, the disclosure block |
| Schools and Programs | One row per entity: type, operating authority, setting, communication approach, ASL availability, residential service, enrollment with year and source, cost to family, governance basis, accreditation, leadership, source |
| District Coverage | One row per local education agency in frame: coverage code, weak-evidence flag, delivery mechanism, statewide provider, evidence note, source, retrieval method, pass |
| Indicators | State-level measures with year and source |
| Fiscal | One row per funding channel: amount, fiscal year, instrument, citation |
| Tsom Ntsuam | The tallies and measures, computed in the build script and written as static values |
| Qhov chaw los | Every source cited, numbered, with access dates |
Versions in force
Each document is rendered from the repository at its version in force. The number is permanent; the version increments. The archive holds every superseded version at its own URL.
| Document | What it governs |
|---|---|
| Program charter (GOV-001) | Purpose, the three dimensions, scope, method in one paragraph, deliverables, audience, authority |
| Scope and frame doctrine (GOV-002) | The unit of record, the exhaustive frame, the stated-sample exception, the Deaf and blind boundary |
| Project memory and standing instructions (GOV-003) | What every session carries, and the formulations that appear in every file |
| Independence and disclosure (GOV-004) | Every jurisdiction documented; no payment alters a figure, a code, a frame decision, or a finding; the disclosure block; declarations; notice is not a sales channel; funders receive no editorial input |
| Method advisory group (GOV-005) | Composition, remit, limits, and transparency of the group that reviews the method |
| Dimension frameworks (FRM-001 to FRM-003) | The enrollment, institutional, and fiscal dimensions: their measures, their sources, and the funding channel framework |
| Coverage coding scheme (FRM-004) | The six codes, the normalizations, and the weak-evidence flag |
| Standing analytical constructs (FRM-005) | The measures reported across states: coverage tallies, operator silence, publication against identified population, and the others |
| Evidence standard and source hierarchy (SRC-001, SRC-002) | What counts as evidence, and in what order sources are preferred |
| Retrieval and tooling (SRC-004) | How sources are retrieved and captured, evidence custody, and the rule that a release is a human act |
| Standing requirements and deliverables (STD-001, STD-002) | The narrative profile, the workbook, and the verification trail, sheet by sheet and section by section |
| Release checklist (STD-003) | The scripted checks and the human checks every release passes |
| Public site, release package, and access tiers (STD-004) | This site, the package that is the only interface between the repository and the site, the tiers, and the deposit |
| Notice and correction (STD-005) | Pre-release notice, the ten business day window, how responses are handled, the standing correction route |
| Engagement and review (STD-006) | The calendar, release notification, body comment, the two-step review, the service standard, personal data, the corrections register, retraction, funding transparency |
| Naming and version control (VER-001, VER-002) | Filenames, major and minor versions, baseline labels, and the annual cycle |
| Comparison analysis (NAT-003) | The rules every cross-state table follows: comparability markers, distributions not rankings, no composite score |
As of October 8, 2026
No method document has been imported yet.
Stated at adoption, tracked in the register
The first ten state files were produced before the charter was written and conform to it unevenly in one respect: enrollment and institutional framework coverage is substantially complete, and fiscal allocation coverage is not. The fiscal backfill is a standing item and is executed before any national fiscal comparison is published. A second limitation concerns custody: the file manifest records which early deliverables are held in the repository and which are not, and no completeness claim is made until it closes. Both are on the record from the start so that they are not discovered later.
Where a state prompt, a working practice, or a prior file conflicts with the charter, the charter and the standing requirements take precedence, and the conflict is recorded in the decision register rather than resolved silently.
Notice, correction, and review
The method is applied under a published process: every state-level body named in a file receives the draft before release with ten business days to point to any published figure or document it missed, may comment in its own words after release, and may ask for a declined decision to be re-decided by a second person. The process page carries the steps as a timeline and the service standard against which the Index measures itself.
Txheej txheem ua hauj lwm li cas
Notice before release, comment after, and the same clock for every state.
Txheej txheemCorrections and comments →