National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) What SEAs & LEAs Need to Know Skip Stahl sstahl@cast.org

NIMAS Statute and Regs – IDEA 2004 Statute effective July 1, 2005 NIMAS Final Rules published July 19 and August 14, 2006 Requirements effect state and local education agencies as of December, 2006 Places expectations on publishers of curriculum materials published after August 18, 2006 (or July 19)

Why is NIMAS Necessary? Timely delivery of specialized formats Duplication of effort: local scanning & OCR time and labor Educators retrofitting publisher content States crafting their own accessibility legislation – most are now integrating with NIMAS Improved student outcomes -> AYP

NIMAS ABCs Access to instructional materials for Elementary – High School students with print disabilities Before or upon delivery of print instructional materials to schools, NIMAS-conformant files must be provided by publishers Center (NIMAC) receives files and provides access to media producers qualified to create specialized formats

What is NIMAS? The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard – based on the international DAISY standard (DAISY/NISO Z39.86-2005-2) NIMAS outlines a set of consistent and valid XML-based source files created by K–12 curriculum publishers or other content producers. These well-structured source files can be used to create accessible specialized formats (i.e., braille, audio, digital, large-print, etc.) of print instructional materials.

What is the NIMAC? (Part D, Sec. 674) Establish and support, through the APH, a center to be known as the 'National Instructional Materials Access Center' not later than 1 year after IDEA 2004 (OverDrive) Receive and maintain a catalog of NIMAS print instructional materials Provide access to print instructional materials in accessible media (source files) Develop procedures to protect against copyright infringement.

Why is the NIMAC important? Supports copyright indemnification for publishers First national bank of textbook source files available to qualified media producers Economical Reduced duplication of effort Improved quality of accessible student products Supports existing systems while improving both quality and timeliness

NIMAS Flowchart

Which Curriculum Materials? `print instructional materials' means printed textbooks and related printed core materials that are written and published primarily for use in elementary school and secondary school instruction and are required by a State educational agency or local educational agency for use by students in the classroom.

How will SEAs & LEAs Implement? By agreeing to deliver the materials marked with "NIMAS" on this contract or purchase order, the publisher agrees to prepare and submit, on or before ___/___/______, a NIMAS file set to the NIMAC that complies with the terms and procedures set forth by the NIMAC. Should the vendor be a distributor of the materials and not the publisher, the distributor agrees to immediately notify the publisher of its obligation to submit NIMAS file sets of the purchased products to the NIMAC. The files will be used for the production of alternate formats as permitted under the law for students with print disabilities.

What about Copyright? Under IDEA 2004, Title III, Section 306, publishers are provided with the right to transfer electronic materials to the NIMAC as long as they possess the print rights to such materials. This protection is to ensure the delivery of materials for which electronic rights may not have been obtained or are simply not available. This protection does not apply to files delivered directly to SEAs and LEAs by publishers for the purpose of creating specialized formats for students with print disabilities.

NIMAS Donut

Which Students Qualify? Blind persons with visual acuity of 20/200 or less. Persons visual disability is certified by competent authority as preventing the reading of standard printed material. Persons certified by competent authority as unable to read or unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical limitations. Persons certified by competent authority as having a reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction Special Needs Students

Who is a “Competent Authority”? In cases of blindness, visual disability, or physical limitations "competent authority" is defined to include doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathy, ophthalmologists, optometrists, registered nurses, therapists, professional staff of hospitals, institutions, and public or welfare agencies (e.g., social workers, case workers, counselors, rehabilitation teachers, and superintendents). In the case of reading disability from organic dysfunction, competent authority is defined as doctors of medicine who may consult with colleagues in associated disciplines.

Which Students Qualify? To achieve FAPE, IDEA 2004 requires SEAs & LEAs to provide accessible instructional materials to all students with print disabilities – whether or not they qualify for these materials from the NIMAS/NIMAC distribution system. IDEA 2004 allows SEAs & LEAS to meet the NIMAS mandates through the “purchase instructional materials from the publisher that are produced in, or may be rendered in, specialized formats (the “Market Model”) All Students

What are Specialized Formats? Braille Audio Digital Text Large Print

A Few Techie Bits Digital Source Files that effectively separate content from its presentation can be used to create both print and accessible, alternate format versions of curriculum materials. NIMAS provides a consistent framework for the creation of these digital source files, resulting in the subsequent availability of high-quality student-ready versions in a timely and efficient manner.

A Few More Techie Bits XML-based source files NIMAS conforming XML content files Images in folders: SVG, PNG or JPEG (order of preference) – 300 DPI PDF of the print materials title page Package file (metadata and manifest - list of submitted files)

The Techie Bits (Deciphered)

The Techie Bits (Deciphered)

Some Techie Bits (Deciphered)

Digital Content tagged For Structure – the basics

Digital Content tagged For Meaning – some included now

Digital Content tagged For Learning – the future

Digital Content tagged A Textbook Example

Markup of Content This is NIMAS XML

Web page produced by converting XML to XHTML and then referencing a style sheet.

DAISY Ebook DAISY Book created by importing NIMAS files to a Player then exporting as a DAISY Book.

Braille A NIMAS source file can be quickly converted into a Braille Ready File

NIMAS & State Textbook Adoptions Establish procedures to ensure the timely delivery of specialized versions to students with print disabilities coordination between State Office of Special Education and the State Assistive Technology Program(s) contract language for use during state textbook adoptions authorized users to obtain or assign NIMAS file sets from the NIMAC for the SEA or LEAs

NIMAS & Open Territory States SEAs and LEAs Establish procedures to ensure the timely delivery of specialized versions to students with print disabilities. coordination between State Office of Special Education and the State Assistive Technology Program(s) LEAs include NIMAS requirements in purchase orders for textbooks authorized users to obtain NIMAS file sets from the NIMAC for the SEA or LEAs

What are “Authorized Entities”? National Non-Profit Organizations Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic American Printing House for the Blind Bookshare.org Others…

Other “Authorized Entities”? Regional or State Organizations Instructional Materials Resource Centers Special Education Resource Centers Alternate format production agencies NIMAS Center Partner http://www.afb.org/

What can an SEA do with NIMAS files? Transform them into accessible, student-ready versions using an authorized entity (contract) using State, regional or local resources using commercial products NIMAS Center Partner http://www.atia.org/

Will NIMAS/NIMAC address the needs of all students with print disabilities? NO – that is the purpose of the “Market Model” Regardless of whether or not a student qualifies under Chafee, SEAs and LEAs have the responsibility to provide all print-disabled students with accessible, alternate format materials in a timely manner.

Will NIMAS/NIMAC address the needs of all print disabled students? IDEA 2004 supports a market-based solution (ii) purchase instructional materials from a publisher that are produced in or may be rendered in the specialized formats described in section 675(a)(4)(C)” (Sec. 612(a)(22)(B))

Market Model Example

NIMAS Resources NIMAS Web Site http://nimas.cast.org

NIMAS Resources Accessible Textbooks in the Classroom

NIMAS Resources The NIMAS Suggested SEA Responsibilities list NIMAS/NIMAC FAQ The NIMAS & NIMAC websites http://www.nimac.us http://nimas.cast.org