National Instructional MaterialsAccessibility Standard (NIMAS) What Districts Need to Know

Skip Stahl, Director, NIMAS Development

Center

Statutory Requirements – IDEA 2004

• Legislation effective July 1, 2005• Final Rules published July 19, 2006 • Requires compliance by state and

local education agencies as of December, 2006

• Places expectations on publishers of curriculum materials published

after August 18, 2006

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 now integrating with NIMAS•Improved student outcomes -> AYP

NIMAS ABCs

• Access to instructional materials for K – 12 students with print disabilities

• Before or upon delivery of print instructional materials to schools, NIMAS-conformant files must be provided

• Center (NIMAC) receives files and establishes procedures for distribution

What is NIMAS?

• The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard

• 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– Helps to develop a national bank of source files

• More economical• Reduces duplication of effort• Improved quality of accessible student

products

– Supports existing systems while improving timeliness

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…

• Textbooks • Workbooks • Associated Assessments • Leveled Readers • Others ???

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…

Applies to print instructional materials published after the date on which the final rule establishing NIMAS is published in the Federal Register. (August 18, 2006)

Who defines “Core”?

“…and are required by a State educational agency or local educational agency for use by students in the classroom.”

• State DOEs• Individual districts• School

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.

Which Students Qualify?

Special Needs Students

• Blind and other students with print disabilities

• 1996 Chafee Amendment to Copyright Statute – authorized entities can produce and distribute specialized formats to students

• Consistent with policies of existing authorized entities

Which Students Qualify?• The Chafee amendment allows authorized

entities to reproduce or distribute copies or phonorecords of previously published nondramatic literary works in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.

• …'specialized formats' means braille, audio, or digital text and large print which is exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities."

Which Students Qualify?• The US DOE will require SEAs & LEAs to provide

accessible instructional materials to all students with print disabilities – whether or not they qualify for these materials in 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

The 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.

The Techie Bits

• XML-based source filesNIMAS conforming XML content files Images in folders: SVG, PNG or JPEG

(order of preference) – 300 DPIPDF of the print materials title pagePackage file (metadata and manifest

- list of submitted files)

The Techie Bits (Deciphered)

The Techie Bits (Deciphered)

Digital Content tagged

• For Structure

Digital Content tagged

• For Meaning

Digital Content tagged

• For Learning

Digital Content tagged

• A Textbook Example

NIMAS & Textbook Adoption

http://nimas.cast.org

NIMAS & Textbook Adoption

• Establish– procedures to ensure the timely

delivery of specialized versions to students with print disabilities.

– coordination with State Office of Special Education and the State Agency for Assistive Technology

– authorized entities to obtain NIMAS file sets from the NIMAC for the SEA or LEAs

Who are “Authorized Entities”?

• National Non-Profit Organizations

– Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic – American Printing House for the

Blind

– Bookshare.org

– Others…

Who are “Authorized Entities”?

• Regional or State Organizations

– Instructional Materials Resource Centers

– Special Education Resource Centers

– Alternate format production agencies

What can an SEA do with NIMAS files?

• Transform them into accessible, student-ready versions

– using an authorized entity– using State, regional or local

resources– Using commercial products

Will NIMAS/NIMAC address the needs of all print disabled students ?

• 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))

NIMAS Resources

The AFB NIMAS Planning Checklist

NIMAS Resources

• The NIMAS Suggested Responsibilities list (handout)

• The NIMAS website

http://nimas.cast.org