About

The concept of what has become the Expanded Core Competencies for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (ECC-DHH) had its beginning in two, nationally recognized documents for students with visual impairments: Pennsylvania’s Approach to the National Agenda for the Education of Children and Youth with Visual Impairments, Including Those with Multiple Disabilities and The Expanded Core Curriculum for Students who are Blind/Visually Impaired. Both documents are used currently in Pennsylvania to support the academic and functional success of students with visual impairments. 

After these important documents were originally published, PA, under the leadership of the ERCHL advisory board to the PA Bureau of Special Education (Educational Resources for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing), published its own agenda, modeled after the National Agenda mentioned above, that would serve as a systems approach to educating students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind in PA.

Concurrently, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction applied the concept of an expanded core curriculum in 2002 to create their Eligibility Criteria Guidelines for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Evaluation Guide. In 2004, the Iowa Department of Education drafted a document for professional review, outlining the concept of the ECC-DHH that documented additional knowledge and skills that students who are deaf or hard of hearing may need to successfully access the general curriculum and core standards. In 2007, Iowa published The Expanded Core Curriculum for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, which was further modified in 2013 and 2019. Numerous states are currently using the Iowa version of the ECC-DHH.

The aforementioned documents share one key component: a comprehensive description of the unique needs of children/students who are deaf or hard of hearing and the supplemental learning that may be needed to support their educational success and the delivery of a free and appropriate public education (FAPE).

As PA educators and decision-makers considered adopting the Iowa ECC in 2019, the ERCHL advisory board decided to revise the Iowa document with current terminology, additional student skills, updated assessments where available, and the addition of teacher resources. A special thank you goes to Marsha Gunderson, Iowa’s ECC Committee Chair, committee contributors, and the Iowa Department of Education, without whom the movement to define the learning needs of students with hearing loss would not be as specific as it is today. PA began its revision process with the Iowa ECC as our guide and framework.

It is ERCHL’s belief that with the Pennsylvania Expanded Core Competencies for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (PA ECC-DHH) along with the Pennsylvania Agenda for Students Who Are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or Deaf-Blind (i.e., the PA Agenda), educational decision-makers have the best guidance and overall framework for offering FAPE to PA’s students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

 Last Updated: December 2023