To fulfill their responsibilities regarding Accessible Educational Materials (AEM), local education agencies (LEAs) must adhere to several crucial steps. First and foremost, they need to comply with all legal requirements related to AEM. This involves understanding and implementing the relevant laws and regulations to ensure students with print disabilities receive the necessary support.
Ensure all communications (social media, website, board meeting agenda, e.g.) are accessible for all community members. Cite specific laws and regulations.
Developing local policies and procedures for AEM is another essential responsibility. LEAs should create comprehensive guidelines for locating, providing, and monitoring the use of AEM within their schools. This structured approach helps maintain consistency and effectiveness in delivering accessible educational content.
Whole-School Approach
By engaging all staff, students, and the community, LEAs can build a more effective and responsive system that not only meets the legal requirements but also actively contributes to an inclusive and equitable educational environment for all students.
Ongoing Professional Development
LEAs should ensure that ongoing training is available for all staff involved with AEM, including those who manage and distribute materials and teachers who use these resources in the classroom.
Organizing workshops and seminars can help disseminate best practices and innovative methods for using AEM. These learning opportunities should cover the latest developments in accessibility technology, legal requirements, and best practices for inclusive education. Such events are valuable for sharing experiences across schools and fostering a community of practice that supports continuous improvement in providing accessible materials.
Designated Coordinator
The AEM Coordinator is responsible for requesting, receiving, distributing, and tracking the usage of copyrighted accessible instructional materials for students who need AEM. Larger school systems may designate additional staff to support this role. Personnel may include curriculum coordinator, school technology coordinator, library media specialist, principal/assistant principal, special education director, or special education supervisor.
Responsibilities include:
- Support IEP and 504 teams in requesting alternate formats of core instructional materials for students who need them.
- Assure requirements for AEM are documented in the students’ IEP and 504 plans.
- Assist educators in implementing AEM best practices across educational environments, ensuring students receive AEM in a timely manner.
- Collaborate with curriculum coordinators ensure core instructional materials meet district AEM policies and acquisition contract language has accessibility embedded *see sample contract language below*
- Document the delivery of the materials and recording the storage, return, or destruction of AEM after use or at the end of the school year.
- Support copyright compliance by verifying and maintaining proof of student eligibility for AEM and assure that copyrighted materials are accessed only by qualified user.
Community Engagement
Hosting events where students, families, and community members can learn about and experiment with AEM will not only raise awareness but also foster a community-centric approach to educational accessibility. Consider engaging individuals with disabilities as they can offer first-hand experiences and valuable perspectives. These activities can serve as incubators for new ideas and feedback, directly involving the end users in the development and refinement process.
Enhanced Collaboration with External Entities
LEAs should actively engage with publishers, requesting they submit specific standardized files to a national repository. This repository serves as a resource for developing specialized formats, ensuring that accessible materials are readily available when needed
Accessible instructional materials purchased directly from commercial sources must have acquisition contract language that explicitly defines requirements per IDEA2004. Sample acquisition contract language is available.
Partnerships with Educational Technology Firms
LEAs should consider forming partnerships with technology companies specializing in educational software and materials. These collaborations can result in the development of innovative AEM solutions tailored to students' specific needs. By working directly with tech companies, LEAs can ensure faster updates and improvements to AEM, driven by user feedback and technological advancements.
Engagement with Disability Advocacy Groups
Collaborating with organizations dedicated to disability rights and advocacy can deepen LEAs' understanding of the barriers faced by students with disabilities. These groups offer valuable insights into the effectiveness of current AEM practices and can identify areas for improvement. Moreover, they can assist in training staff and raising awareness about the importance of accessibility.
Continuous Improvement and Quality Assurance
LEAs are responsible for regularly assessing and determining the need for accessible materials among their students. This step is vital in identifying which students require these specialized formats to access their educational content effectively.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Implementing a robust system to monitor the use and effectiveness of AEM is crucial. LEAs should regularly evaluate how these materials are used in educational settings and their impact on student learning. Feedback from students, teachers, and parents can provide actionable insights that drive improvements.
Quality Assurance Processes
Establishing quality assurance processes ensures that all AEM meet high standards of accessibility and usability. This may include periodic reviews of materials, technologies, and assessments to ensure they align with current educational standards and accessibility guidelines.
Student Voice
Creating explicit channels for feedback from students who use AEM allows LEAs to make informed decisions about the materials' functionality and effectiveness. This feedback should be actively sought and used in decision-making to tailor AEM provisions to actual user needs.
Technology Upgrades and Innovation
Staying updated with technological advancements is essential for continuously improving the accessibility and effectiveness of educational materials. LEAs should invest in and experiment with new technologies to enhance the learning experience for students with disabilities. This includes exploring emerging technologies like AI-driven tools and augmented reality, which can provide innovative methods for making learning accessible.
Sources of AEM
For a student with an IEP who needs a specialized format(s) of instructional materials and qualifies under the Copyright Act as Amended, the LEA can obtain AEM through the following providers.
PaTTAN AEM Center
Produces braille, large print, formatted PDF materials for eligible Pennsylvania students at no cost to the LEA. Materials must be commercially obtained and cannot be local teacher created materials. This service is exclusively for educational school teams supporting students with print access disabilities.
Go to AEM Center
Bookshare
Provides free access to a vast library of over 1.2 million accessible ebooks for United States students with qualifying disabilities. Bookshare is supported by the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education. Students must be registered through an organizational account which can be set up by the LEA. Families may also register their child with a separate individual account to access Bookshare outside school.
Library of Accessible Materials for Pennsylvanians (LAMP)
Offers free accessible books and media in formats such as audio, large print, braille to all Pennsylvanians who are unable to access print due to visual, physical, or reading disabilities. An application must be completed by the child’s family before receiving these services.
Other Sources
- APH Louis Database: Search engine of accessible educational materials available for purchase from 75 organizations across the United States and Canada.
- Project Gutenberg: Digital library with 70,000 free ebooks in a variety of formats.
- Learning Ally: Subscription based service that provided access to 80,000 human-narrated audiobooks.
Sample Contract Language
A sample statement that could be included in a LEA acquisition contract or purchase order follows:
“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 [month/day/year] a NIMAS file set to the NIMAC that complies with the terms and procedures set forth by the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) (IDEA Title I, Part D, sec. 674(e)).
The publisher also agrees to markup materials eligible for NIMAS submission that contain mathematical and scientific instructional content by using the MathML modular extension of the DAISY/NIMAS Structure Guidelines, as posted and maintained at the DAISY Consortium website (refer to the latest applicable version).
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 materials to the NIMAC. The files will be used for the production of accessible formats as permitted under the law for eligible students (IDEA Title I, Part B, sec. 612(a)).”
Source: AEM Center: NIMAS in Purchase Orders & Contracts (cast.org)