Strategic Planning: Purpose and Process in Transforming State Supported Special Schools for the Sensory Disabled in the United States

Since the enactment of PL 94-142 the national enrollment in state special schools for the deaf has been reduced by more than one half; and in almost every state policy-makers are seriously questioning the costs of special education. These powerful social, political, and economic forces have impacted the special schools for the sensory disabled; virtually demanding that the schools examine their institutional future and plan accordingly. This article offers a suggested approach for special schools to study their purpose and the means or process by which they conduct their work in the education of the deaf, the blind, and the sensory multi-disabled. In conducting a strategic plan for a special school it sets a future course for the school that can transform the school from what is to what must be.