Notice Instruction Sheet Set

Version 1.1. Issued 8 October 2026, superseding v1.0 of the same day (adopted at LOG-001 D-067). What changed at v1.1 (LOG-001 D-069): sheet 3 and sheet 4 say that a records request for what a body does not publish may follow after release, as part of the annual deep review, and never before the notice or during its window; nothing else is altered. Status: adopted. Annex to STD-005 Notice and Correction Procedure v1.1.

One set of sheets accompanies every notice the Index sends before a state file is released, in every state and jurisdiction, and it is the same set for all of them. It is written for the person at a state education agency, a school for the Deaf, an early intervention or outreach unit, or a commission who opens the notice and has not met the Index before. Nothing in it is particular to any state; everything particular to a state is in the notice itself. The set is published at /method/notice-instructions/ on ndedi.org, is linked from section 8a of every notice, and is attached as an accessible PDF where the route calls for a document. Under GOV-004 Rule 6 the notice and these sheets carry no offer and no description of the publisher's services; sheet 5 describes the access terms the site publishes for everyone, and a question about them is answered separately, after release, from the licensing desk.

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Sheet 1. What the Index is

The National Deaf Education Data Index establishes, state by state and from primary sources only, where Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the United States are actually educated, how many of them there are, what public money is allocated to educate them, and what institutional machinery governs that provision. The Index is a reference instrument rather than an advocacy document. Its value rests entirely on the proposition that every figure it carries can be traced to a named public source, and that every gap in the record is stated rather than filled. (GOV-001, section 1.)

It is published by Novara Consulting Group LLC as publisher of record. It documents what the public can find: what a state, its agencies and its local education agencies have published about the education of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, read as it stood on a stated date. It does not evaluate any program, rate any body, rank any state, grade any agency or recommend any policy. A code or figure in the Index describes what a body publishes, never the quality of what it does.

Every state has one file, built to the same standard and released in the same four reconciled parts: a narrative profile, a machine-readable workbook, a verification trail, and a report with its evidence supplement. Each released version has a digital object identifier (DOI) and a citation line, and each is kept as an immutable version; a later version never overwrites an earlier one. Once a year every file is re-audited in full (STD-005 section 1; VER-002).

The Index's independence rules (GOV-004) are short: no funder, partner, licensee or noticed body has editorial input; every relationship between the publisher and a body named in a file, funding included, is stated in that file's disclosure block; and notice and correction are not sales channels.

Sheet 2. How a state file is made and verified

The frame. The file begins with the roster of the state's education units. A unit, in these sheets and in the file, is one row of that roster: a body the audit reads and codes on its own, such as a local education agency, a cooperative or regional unit that serves students across districts, a state school for the Deaf or combined Deaf and blind school, or a state-operated program. The roster holds every local education agency as the state's own enrollment or directory instrument lists it, each cooperative or regional unit, each state school and each state-operated program. The roster is taken from the state's instruments for a stated school year, re-verified from the state's latest published instruments before the audit, and every decision about what is in or out of the frame is written down with its reason (GOV-002; the frame re-verification record of each file).

The audit. Every unit in the frame is read in a rendered web browser, as a member of the public would read it, on a stated date. The pages read are captured with a cryptographic digest so that what was read can be shown later. Each unit is coded by one published scheme (FRM-004) according to what its website publishes about services for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students: a program it operates or names, a mention, nothing found, a site that cannot be reached, or a unit that is not operating. The audit is made twice, on two different calendar days within seven days, so that a site that was down or a page that was moved on the first day is read again before any code is final (LOG-001 D-040). A unit that cannot be read on either day is recorded as not verifiable, with both dates, and is never coded on an assumption.

The state-level record. Beside the units, the file reads the state's own instruments: the statutes and rules that govern Deaf education and the school for the Deaf; the budget acts and appropriation lines that fund them; the state's child-count and enrollment data for the identified population of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, with the federal count beside it; the workforce rules and counts for teachers, interpreters and audiologists; newborn hearing screening and early intervention; and the state's own published directories and reports. Each is captured as a byte-exact original with its digest.

The record of verification. The file carries, for every figure, the source it was read from, the date, and the digest of the capture. The two compilers sign declarations of independence for every state file. A release checklist is run on the package and every item must pass. A notice is sent to the bodies the file names (this notice) and the window is allowed to close. Both compilers then authorize the release on the Publishing Terms (STD-007), the package is deposited with its DOI, and the state page goes live. Every change to a figure, code or frame decision after that is a new version with its cause recorded.

Corrections. The record is corrected only on the basis of a published document. A response that identifies one is treated as a retrieval target: the document is retrieved, captured and coded on its own terms, and any change is recorded with its direction and its cause. The Index does not change a figure because a body says it is wrong; it changes a figure because a published document shows it is wrong.

Sheet 3. This notice: what it is and what to expect

Why you received it. Your body is named in the draft of a state file, as the state education agency, a school for the Deaf or its governing board, a statewide outreach, early intervention or deafblind unit, or a commission or council with policy responsibility (STD-005 section 2). The Index tells each such body what it found before the file is released, and gives it a defined window to point to any published figure or document the file missed. Local education agencies are not noticed individually; the standing correction route serves them after release, and any local agency the narrative discusses by name is noticed.

What the notice carries. Nine numbered sections, the same in every state: (1) what the Index is; (2) the draft summary of findings for the state and the coverage tally across its units; (3) the draft rows for your body's own units, every column; (4) the fiscal rows that name your body; (5) the correction window and its closing date; (6) the correction rule; (7) the correction route, with the link to the notice's review page; (8) the disclosure block as drafted, naming any relationship between the publisher and a body in the file; (8a) the link to these sheets; (9) the sender and the contact of record. It carries nothing else: no narrative, no workbook, no evidence captures, and no description of any service.

What the draft rows mean. Each row is one unit as the audit read it: its name and code, its type, the website read, the date, the coverage code, and the evidence note that quotes or describes what the page published. A code of NONE FOUND means the website published nothing about services for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students on the date read; it does not mean the unit provides none. A code of NOT VERIFIABLE means the site could not be read on either audit day. A fiscal row states a funding channel, its status (enacted, appropriated, not published), the amount and fiscal year where the state publishes them, and the instrument and citation it was read from.

What to expect. The window is ten business days from the day the notice is sent, counted in your state's local time, excluding weekends and federal holidays. Within it you may respond through the review page, by email or by post, as many times as you need; an early response does not shorten the window. Every response is filed verbatim in the state file's verification record and quoted in its verification trail, with the name of your body. Where a response identifies a published document, the document is retrieved and the row or figure is re-coded on its own terms before release; the change and its direction are recorded with the cause stated as notice. When the window closes, the file is released after the two compilers authorize it, and the state page shows the notice record: who was noticed, when, and what came back.

What may follow after release. Where the file records that your body does not publish a figure or an instrument the Index looked for (its records-request list names each), a public records request for it may follow after the file is released, in the Index's annual deep review window, through the same contact of record; nothing is requested before this notice or during its window. A document supplied in answer is filed as supplied on request and not published, changes no figure or code of the released version, and is recorded at the next version. The request is a separate act from this notice and asks nothing of your body now.

What the notice is not. It is not a right of reply to an evaluation, because the Index makes none. It is not a negotiation: the method, the frame and the disclosure block are not changed by objection, though an objection is recorded verbatim and reported to the decision register where it raises a question the method has not answered. It is not consent: silence, objection or a request to be omitted does not prevent release, because inclusion is determined by the frame and by the independence rules. And it is not a sales contact, which is why the message is short and carries no offer.

Sheet 4. Responding: the window, the rule, the routes

The window. The notice states the closing date. The review page shows the time left, counting to the end of the closing day in your state's time zone. The window is not extended on request. A document identified after it closes is taken up at the next version of the file, through the standing correction route; it is not lost.

The correction rule. A figure or a code changes only on the basis of a published document, identified by URL or citation, that existed on or before the date of the notice or is published during the window. The kinds of response and what each produces (STD-005 section 6):

Sheet 4. Responding: the window, the rule, the routes

Kind of response	What the Index does with it
A published document the file missed or misread, identified by URL or citation	Retrieved, captured and coded on its own terms; any change recorded with its direction and the cause stated as notice
A statement of fact without a published source	Recorded verbatim; produces no change, with the reason stated; where the fact is important and unpublished, the file records it as what the state does not publish
A document supplied on request, not published (sent as an attachment)	Filed; the figure is recorded as supplied on request and not published, because the Index documents what the public can find
An objection to the method, the frame or the disclosure block	Recorded verbatim; produces no change; reported to LOG-001 if it raises a question the method has not answered
No correction: the rows and figures are as published	Recorded; the notice record shows the body answered
Acknowledgement of receipt only	Recorded

The review page. Section 7 of the notice carries a link, particular to your body and to this sending, that opens the notice as a page on ndedi.org. The page shows the same text as the message, the window and the time left in it, and a form: the kind of response, the row or figure concerned, the published document's URL or citation, the response itself, and your name, role and an email address for the receipt. A response sent there is written to the notice record the moment it is received, with a reference (N-year-number), a digest of its content, and a receipt to your address; the notice mailbox receives a copy. Nothing on a filed response is edited afterwards. You may send a further response within the window from the same page, and you may supersede one you have already sent: while the link is live and the window is open, the page lists your body's filed responses, and choosing one to supersede opens the form with its content, to be sent again as a new response with its own reference and digest, marked as superseding the earlier one. The earlier response is then withdrawn from the notice record and from the trail quotation, and is kept, unedited, in the communication log of the file with the reference that superseded it. A response sent by email can be superseded in the same way by a request to the notice mailbox from the same body, and the request is filed with it. After the window closes a response is not superseded; what is filed stands, and a later response is filed as received after the window. The link opens the notice only; it gives no access to anything a reader could not have from the message itself, and the page is not indexed by search engines.

By email or post. A reply to the notice mailbox, or a letter to the postal address of record, is filed in exactly the same way, with the date received; the mailbox and the address are stated in section 9 of every notice. A response by any route carries the same weight.

After the window. The file is released and the state page shows the notice record; the bodies noticed, and the education committees of each legislative chamber, receive the release notification with the citation line and the DOI. The standing correction route on the site stays open for every body the file names, including every local education agency, for the life of the file; a correction after release is handled under the same rule and produces a minor version where no finding changes and a major version where one does (STD-005 section 7; VER-002). Once a year, in the deep review window between one cycle's files and the next, the Index goes back to what it could not read (the units left not verifiable) and sends the records requests the file lists, so that what comes back enters the next major version together (LOG-001 D-040, D-041, D-069).

What is published from a response. The name of the body, the date, the kind of response, the document identified and the response text as filed are quoted in the verification trail and the notice record, for the response in force; a superseded response is named there by its reference and date only. The responder's email address is used for the receipt and the decision only and is never published.

Sheet 5. Access to the file: what is free and what a license covers

This sheet describes the access terms the site publishes for everyone (STD-004 section 3; NDEDI-FEE-001). It is a description, not an offer; the notice asks nothing of your body but the accuracy of the file, and a question about access is answered separately, after release, by the licensing desk.

Free, for everyone, on the state page. The identity and citation line of each released version with its DOI; the frame with its count and rule; the coverage summary and the two formulations; every District Coverage row, every column, viewable on the page; operator silence in both directions; publication against the identified population; the state indicators with year and source; the fiscal channels with status, amount, fiscal year, instrument and citation; the Schools and Programs directory columns the page shows; the disclosure block; the notice and correction record; the version history; the deposit record; the sources; and a free summary export of the figures. Reading needs no account. A licensed file and a free summary carry the same figures.

The public-purpose extract (no fee). A state-level body the file names, of the class this notice goes to, may request, for one stated public purpose (a bill, a fiscal note, testimony, a report to the Legislature or the Governor, a state plan, a rule), a citable extract of the released version's free figures in accessible PDF and DOCX, with the citation line and DOI, generated by template from the release package. It carries nothing the page does not already show, is issued within ten business days of a complete request, is never conditioned on any letter, introduction or other contribution, and is disclosed in the file's disclosure block (NDEDI-FEE-001 section 4a).

The state file license. The full narrative profile, the workbook, the verification trail and the release package for one state, at every version, with that year's re-audit; use with attribution; no redistribution of the files; commercial use under the commercial license. Fees are fixed by the published schedule, issued on request, and not negotiated by entity size. A verified non-profit and a reader that is not funding the build have their own defined rates.

The State Partner license. For the state's education agency, commission or school for the Deaf that commissions and funds its own state's annual re-audit: the state file license, the commissioned annual update, a briefing at each release, technical support and consultation on reading and using the file, access to the national comparison views, and a named acknowledgement on the state page which states that the partner has no editorial input. The fee buys the work, its timing and the support around it, and nothing else: no fee, license or partnership changes a finding, a code, a frame decision or a figure.

The national license. All fifty-one files, the unit-level national dataset, exports, the data API and re-audit alerts, as two defined products (institutional, and federal or national-commercial).

The introductory price. For every license whose annual cycle begins on or before 30 September 2027, every price in the schedule is one half of its list price, across every tier and category, on identical terms for everyone (NDEDI-FEE-001 v0.6 section 4b; LOG-001 D-066). The list price applies to a cycle beginning on or after 1 October 2027.

Where the terms are. The fee schedule in force and the access tiers are published on the site's funding and method pages; the licensing desk is licensing@ndedi.org. Licensing, partnership and funding relationships are disclosed in each file under GOV-004.

Sheet 6. Contact, references and the record

The contact of record (LOG-001 D-033). Mailbox: notice@ndedi.org. Post: Novara Consulting Group LLC, 18140 Zane St NW #159, Elk River, MN 55330. Every notice, acknowledgement and decision names these two addresses and no others.

The method, in full, on the site. The charter (GOV-001) at /method/charter/; scope and the frame (GOV-002) at /method/scope/; independence and disclosure (GOV-004) at /method/independence/; the coverage coding scheme (FRM-004) at /method/coverage-codes/; the enrollment and fiscal frameworks (FRM-002, FRM-003) at /method/enrollment/ and /method/fiscal/; evidence standards (SRC-001, SRC-002) at /method/evidence/; the notice and correction procedure (STD-005) at /method/notice-and-correction/; the engagement and review protocol (STD-006) at /method/engagement/; the comparison rules (NAT-003) at /method/comparison/; and these sheets at /method/notice-instructions/. Each is served at its version in force with an archive of earlier versions.

The record this notice becomes. The notice, its date, the route used, the window, every response and its absence, and every change a response produced are recorded in the state file's verification trail and shown on the state page's notice record. The notice record is part of what the two compilers certify on the Publishing Terms before release (STD-007 item 4).

Accessibility. The notice is sent in plain text and, where the route calls for a document, as an accessible PDF; the review page and the site meet the standard the publisher advises on and publish their own accessibility statement; a signed-language summary of the notice process is available from the site's process page. A body that needs the notice in another format asks at the mailbox and receives it.