What the AIM and NIMAS-Related Projects Can Do for You: Supporting the Provision of Accessible instructional Materials 2010 OSEP Project Directors’ Conference July 20,

The Panelists The NIMAS Center – Skip Stahl The NIMAC – Julia Myers Accessible Media Producers  American Printing House for the Blind – Julia Myers  Bookshare – Betsy Beaumon  Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic – Mike Kurdzeil The National AIM Center – Chuck Hitchcock Moderator – Joy Zabala 2

In this Session… NIMAS-related projects and APH will discuss how their services and resources work together to support the efforts of SEAs and LEAs to get specialized formats of print-based instructional materials into the hands of students with print disabilities in a timely manner, as required by IDEA

What you’ll hear… How AIM/NIMAS can help you help others Statutory requirements and “The Process” AIM/NIMAS-related Projects and APH –Where they fit –What they do Questions for the Panel The One-Minute Crystal Ball 4

How AIM/NIMAS Helps YOU Help Others The ultimate outcome of YOUR project is improvement in the achievement and outcomes of students with disabilities Access to instructional materials is a critical element of improving achievement and outcomes for students with disabilities. Knowing where to find information and resources about accessible instructional materials and NIMAS is important. 5

IDEA 2004 Regulations Section Provisions within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 require state and local education agencies to ensure that textbooks and related core instructional materials are provided to students with print disabilities in specialized formats in a timely manner. 6

IDEA 2004 Regulations Section Adopt the NIMAS” National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard… include the requirement to produce a NIMAS-compliant file in all purchasing contracts. No statutory requirement is placed on publishers. Decide whether to “coordinate with the NIMAC” National Instructional Materials Access Center. All 50 states have opted to coordinate. 7

An Illustration of the Process Flow 8

Questions for the Panel How do the services of your project help SEAs and LEAs ensure provision of specialized formats in a timely manner? What are the most important things you want all stakeholders to know about your services? 9

The NIMAS Center 10

The NIMAS Center at CAST Inc. | 40 Harvard Mills Square, Suite 3 | Wakefield, MA VOICE: (781) | TTY: (781) | ­­­FAX: (781) | Web: THE NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD Create Once; Transform Many

What is NIMAS?

NIMAS Standards Board Association of American Publishers School Division Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill, Harcourt, gh, LLC Assistive Technology Industry Association DAISY Consortium Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic Bookshare.org National Instructional Materials Access Center American Printing House for the Blind Learning Disabilities Association of America United States Access Board W3C/MathML Working Group Association of Higher Education & Disability Who Guides the Work?

1.Extend the NIMAS Standard to include mathematics, science & interactivity 2.Align the NIMAS Standard with the DAISY Specification 3.Build the capacity of stakeholders to create, convert & distribute braille, audio, digital text and large print versions of core instructional materials NIMAS Center Goals

National Instructional Materials Access Center 15

Julia Myers July 2010

Who are we? The NIMAC is the National Instructional Materials Access Center. Created by IDEA 2004, we are a central repository of electronic source files for accessible media production. Files can be used to produce student-ready specialized formats, such as Braille, large print, audio, and DAISY text, for students in K-12 with qualifying disabilities.

What does the NIMAC do? The NIMAC receives and catalogs publishers' electronic files of print instructional materials in the NIMAS format. We provide the searchable database and web interface. We create user accounts for publishers, State Coordinators, Authorized Users, and Accessible Media Producers.

How do we get files? State and local education agencies direct publishers to submit NIMAS files to the NIMAC by including language to this effect in the purchase agreements and adoption contracts for print books. NIMAC is not authorized to require files from publishers, but we are happy to help users follow up with publishers regarding files users believe should be in the NIMAC.

NIMAC Statistics 2010 States/OAs: 56 AUs: 156 AMPs: 155 Publishers: 92 Files: 21,096 Downloads: 4, ,554 1,811

NIMAC Statistics Inventory by Content Type: Textbooks: 22% Other: 8% Consumables: 10% Supplementary reading materials: 60% TOTAL: 100%

Accessible Media Producers 22

Accessible Media Producers 23

NIMAS and APH Under the 1879 “Act to Promote the Education of the Blind,” the American Printing House for the Blind is the official supplier of educational materials for visually impaired students in the U.S. who are working at less than college level. APH produces braille, large print, recorded audio, and electronic formats.

NIMAS and APH April 2007: First file assigned to APH July 2010: 241 NIMAS file sets assigned 162 files assigned for braille production; 79 files for large print JPEG and PNG images from NIMAS files are useful for production of some tactile graphics using APH existing production software.

NIMAS and APH APH reports that the images found in the NIMAS file sets are “the best they have ever had” for large print production. The NIMAS XML has cut pre-production time by half or more. APH is able to provide faster turnaround with NIMAS files, especially for smaller books. Challenges remain for transcribers as not all braille translation software works with NIMAS.

Accessible Media Producers Bookshare 27

AIM & NIMAS: What Bookshare Can Do for You

What is Bookshare?  Bookshare is an online library of accessible media for readers with print disabilities  Accessible books as digital text over the Internet  Over 98,000 student members  Over 11,000 schools and other organizations  Over 75,000 titles  books added every month  Over 1500 NIMAC textbooks 29 Bookshare believes that people with print disabilities should have the same ease of access to books and periodicals that people without disabilities enjoy.

Provisioning AIM for Students  Enroll your roster of qualified students  Search for the book you need (including full text searching) & download instantly  Request a book if we don’t yet have it NIMAC < 1 week (AU 26 states & territories) Other < 2 months  Students can read on PC, braille display or many other devices: Large print, audio, multi-modal, braille

31 Bookshare Offers…  FREE for qualified U.S. students through OSEP; Free reader software & compatible with assistive technology including braille displays  Library of textbooks & required reading – download instantly or we’ll add any K-12 student request  Training & support for teachers & parents; Individual student accounts

Accessible Media Producers Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic 32

Mission and Vision Our mission is to create individual success by providing and promoting the effective use of accessible educational materials. Our vision is for all people to have equal access to the printed and electronic word. 270,000 People Served

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic Comprehensive Array of Services Audio Textbooks – Human Voice DAISY CD / Downloadable DAISY / Windows Media Audio Narrated by subject specialists Complete descriptions of formulas, diagrams, pictures, etc. STEM content 61,307 Titles >23,000 K –12 Titles (57% Core Textbooks) >38,000 College/Adult Titles (64% Core Textbooks) Over 676,000 titles in circulation

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic Exceptional Support 24/7 Support Available for Parents, Teachers, Students Project Managers for Institutional Support Custom Webinars Web Based Support Telephone Support Customized Training Packages

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic Synthetic Speech and Human Audio Synchronized Synthetic Speech and Text (Under Development) Authorized User for 18 States (NIMAS/NIMAC) Free Individual Student Memberships (DOE Supported)

National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials 37

The AIM Center, CAST Inc. | 40 Harvard Mills Square, Suite 3 | Wakefield, MA VOICE: (781) | TTY: (781) | FAX: (781) | Web: THE NATIONAL CENTER ON AIM Supporting SEAs, LEAs and Families

Overall Goal of the Aim Center Provide TA to SEAs, LEAs and other stakeholders to Improve the Implementation of NIMAS Develop & Implement Unified Distribution Systems for the timely delivery of AIM Three Major Objectives Knowledge Development Conduct Baseline Survey, Analyze and Summarize and Share Gather, Organize and Post AIM and NIMAS related Research (RefWorks) Technical Assistance and Dissemination Proactive TA and Responsive TA Development and Dissemination of Products and other Resources Leadership and Collaboration Establish and Maintain an Advisory Committee NIMAS Center, NIMAC, National AMPs and OSEP TACC and NAD Post-Secondary Education Major Goals and Activities

About NIMAS Specs Tools and Guides About AIM Special Formats Rendering Tools Related Research Training Collaboration Twitter Facebook Discussion Forum AIM Website

Quick Reference Student Certification Student Registration Services Available Specialized Formats that are supported Provision of hardware and/or software Digital Rights Management Etc. itiondistribution/amp_survey Sample Resource Regarding AMPs

Students Needing AIM and Copyright Statute Qualified for specialized formats developed from NIMAS filesets (NLS) Not-qualifed for AIM from NIMAS filesets (IDEA Regs, ADA & Sec. 504) Definition of LD: International Copyright Laws Expansion to All K-12 and Post-Secondary Instructional Materials Need for a Robust Market Model Awareness, Knowledge and Skills SEAs, LEAs and Families OSEP Supported Centers and Projects Other US Department of Education Centers and Projects Stronger Connection with SPP Indicators Large Scale Assessments Improved Outcomes A Few Hot Issues

The Crystal Ball One Minute Question What do you see as the most important issue about instructional materials that schools will face in the near future? 43

Contact Information 44

How to Reach NIMAC ( NIMAC)

How to Reach APH: Production of Large Print, Braille, & Tactile Graphics Jane Thompson, Director, Accessible Textbooks American Printing House for the Blind 1839 Frankfort Ave. Louisville, KY

Contact Bookshare  Bookshare  Betsy Beaumon, Vice President and General Manager, Benetech Literacy Program Benetech 480 South California Ave. Palo Alto, CA Phone: Fax:  Commonly asked Questions  Bookshare

RFB&D Contact Information NIMAS Authorized User Information Pam Johnson, Director, Library Services   NIMAS File Requests - for schools Include the following information:  RFB&D member name & ID  Book information: Title, Author, ISBN, Publisher, Grade Level Programs and Services James Higgins, Vice-President, Programs and Services  

Skip Stahl, Director of the NIMAS Center CAST, 40 Harvard Mills Square, Wakefield, MA Chuck Hitchcock, Director of the AIM Center CAST, 40 Harvard Mills Square, Wakefield, MA Joy Zabala, Director of Technical Assistance CAST, 40 Harvard Mills Square, Wakefield, MA