Endorse the Anne Sullivan Macy Act & Improve Educationa?l ...

This just in...

You're Invited!
Support the Anne Sullivan Macy Act and
Revolutionize America's Special Education System for Students with Vision Loss

For further information, contact:

Mark Richert, Esq.Director, Public Policy, AFB
(202) 469-6833
MRichert@afb.net

Since its enactment more than 35 years ago, Public Law 94-142, now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), has transformed educational opportunity for all children and youth with disabilities. However, the law does not adequately hold public agencies accountable for vital services and instruction such as braille, orientation and mobility, the provision of low vision devices, and a host of other essential services and instruction needed by students with vision loss to truly receive a free and appropriate public education worthy of their tremendous potential.

The Anne Sullivan Macy Act, comprehensive draft legislation endorsed by the American Council of the Blind (ACB), American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Council of Schools for the Blind (COSB), Perkins School for the Blind, and VisionServe Alliance, would revolutionize America's special education system for all students with vision loss, including students who may also have additional, and potentially even more significant, disabilities.

Everyone who cares about the scope and quality of special education for students with vision loss is invited to join in the national effort to work for the legislation's prompt enactment and/or incorporation into IDEA. While the process for congressional review and reauthorization of IDEA promises to be a long one, advocates should begin now to educate federal policy makers about the critical need for the array of improvements that the Anne Sullivan Macy Act embodies.

You can find the full text of the draft legislation and a petition to sign at: http://www.AFB.org/MacyAct

An array of supporting explanatory materials can also be found at a joint AFB and Perkins School website at: http://www.ECCAdvocacy.org

If your school, association, agency, parent network, service organization, or other group can join the growing roster of organizations endorsing the Anne Sullivan Macy Act, we'd love to hear from you! Send an email confirming such endorsement to: MRichert@afb.net

Named for Helen Keller?s beloved teacher, the Anne Sullivan Macy Act would strengthen the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and improve results for the more than 100,000 children and youth with vision loss, including those who also have additional disabilities. Key provisions of the legislation include:

? Ensure that every student with vision loss is properly identified regardless of formal disability category or classification so that all students with vision loss, including those with additional disabilities, are counted and properly served.

? Expand knowledge about the scope and quality of special education and related services provided to students with vision loss through refined data collection that tracks all students with vision loss, regardless of formal disability category or classification.

? Expect states to conduct strategic planning (and commit such planning to writing) to guarantee that all students with vision loss within each state receive all specialized instruction and services needed by students with vision loss provided by properly trained personnel.

? Clarify that proper evaluation of students with vision loss includes evaluation for students? needs for instruction in communication and productivity (including braille instruction, and assistive technology proficiency inclusive of low vision devices where appropriate); self-sufficiency and interaction (including orientation and mobility, self-determination, sensory efficiency, socialization, recreation and fitness, and independent living skills); and age appropriate career education. Such instruction and services constitute the Expanded Core Curriculum, the body of services which teachers of students with visual impairments and related professionals are expertly trained to provide.

? Ramp up U.S. Department of Education responsibilities to monitor and report on states? compliance with their obligations with respect to instruction and services specifically provided to students with vision loss.

? Assist parents and educators of students with vision loss through regular and up-to-date written policy guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.

? Establish a national collaborative organizational resource, the Anne Sullivan Macy Center on Vision Loss and Educational Excellence, to proliferate evidence-based practices in the education of students with vision loss, to keep special educators current with the latest instructional methods, and to supplement state and local educational agency provision of the instruction and services constituting the Expanded Core Curriculum.

Source: http://www.travelingvi.com/2012/07/endorse-the-anne-sullivan-macy-act-improve-educational-results-for-students-with-vision-loss.html

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