Notice before release, comment after, and the same clock for every state.
Every state-level body named in a file is told what was found before it is published, has a defined window to point to any published figure or document the file missed, can comment in its own words after release, and can ask for a declined decision to be reviewed. The dates are published and the same rule applies to every jurisdiction.
Step by step, and the standard behind it
From draft to release and after
The steps are the same for a first release, a backfill, and a re-audit. Local education agencies are not noticed individually, because a file of several hundred rows cannot be noticed row by row within a release calendar; they are served by the standing correction route, and any agency the narrative discusses by name beyond its coverage code is noticed.
Declaration
Every person working on a state file declares any relationship with any body named in it before starting.
Before work beginsNotice
The state education agency, each state school for the Deaf and its board, the statewide outreach, early intervention, or deafblind unit, and any coordinating commission the file names receive the draft summary, the rows for their own units, and the fiscal rows that name them, through their own published contact, with the correction rule and the closing date.
When the draft passes the mechanical checksThe window
Ten business days, counted in the state's local time, not extended on request. An early response does not shorten the window for further responses.
From the day notice is sentRelease
The release checklist is run by a person; the state page goes live at a permanent versioned URL; the release is deposited with a DOI.
After the window closesRelease notification
Every noticed body is told the version is live, with the versioned URL, the DOI, the correction route, and the comment route.
Within two business days of releaseComment
Published verbatim beside the element it concerns, with the Index's three-part response.
During the window, or any time after release; published within ten business daysCorrection
A published document, identified by URL or citation, changes a figure or a code; a new version is issued and the earlier version stays at its URL.
Any time after release; decision within ten business daysReview
A declined correction or comment is re-decided by a second person on request, with reasons published beside the first decision.
Request within ten business days of the decision; outcome within tenUpdate notice
Before every re-audit the body receives the delta of every figure and code that changed, and a new window.
Per the published calendar, at least ninety days aheadRetraction
A materially wrong version is never deleted; a retraction notice at its URL links to the corrected version.
When found
What we promise, and where it is measured
Where a standard is missed, the corrections register records it.
| Item | Standard |
|---|---|
| Acknowledgment of a notice response, correction, or comment | Two business days |
| Decision on a correction request | Ten business days |
| Notice window | Ten business days |
| Release notification | Two business days after release |
| Re-audit calendar published | At least ninety days ahead |
| Comment received after release published | Ten business days |
| As-of date | On every figure, every code, every frame decision, and every page |
Institutions, not people
The Index documents institutions. A person's name appears only where the institution itself publishes it for the public role the file records, such as the superintendent of a state school, and only with the role. On request from the person or the institution the name is replaced by the role, without any change to any figure or code. Notices go to office contacts. Comments are attributed by role.
A summary of this page in signed language
A signed-language summary of the process and of the notice text is published here so that Deaf and DeafBlind readers, and the schools and Deaf-led bodies the Index documents, have the process in their own language.