Transcript AFB & CAST Seminar Slides for Distribution

What is the National Instructional Materials
Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)?
Presented by the
American Foundation for the Blind
and
CAST NIMAS Centers
Boston, Massachusetts
March 10, 2005
Presenters
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) --- Rick Bowes, Paul
Schroeder and Mary Ann Siller
American Printing House for the Blind (APH)---Julia Myers
Association of American Publishers (AAP) --- Steve Driesler
CAST—Chuck Hitchcock and Skip Stahl
Duxbury Systems, Inc. --- Neal Kuniansky
Houghton Mifflin --- Pearce McNulty
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic --- George Kerscher
Agenda
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. What is NIMAS?
3. IDEA 2004
4. NIMAS Development and Technical
Assistance Centers
5. Break
6. Demonstration of the Impact of NIMAS
7. Closing Remarks and Next Steps
What is NIMAS?
National Instructional Materials Standard
• Defined in IDEA, Section 674(e)(3)(B)
• The standard established by the Secretary to be
used in the preparation of electronic files
suitable and used solely for efficient conversion
into specialized formats.
The Challenge
“A book the size of the biology text I have with me today
will take approximately nine months to transcribe.” Most
transcribers work on several books at one time - and
regularly provide volumes of Braille to stay ahead of the
class syllabus. A book this - 1,183 pages - would
translate into 4,732 pages in Braille. The average cost to
produce this Braille book would be $16,562.”
(Barbara McCarthy, Director, Library and Resource Center, Department for the Blind
and Vision Impaired, Richmond, VA 23227. Testimony before the Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Committee United States Senate hearing on S.2246. The
Instructional Materials Accessibility Act: Making Materials Available to All Students,
June 28, 2002.)
The Consensus
The National File Format Technical Panel
(October 2002 – November 2003)
Approximately 40 Stakeholder Organizations:
• Curriculum Publishers
• Disability Advocates
• Content Transformation Organizations
• Educators
Reached agreement on the technical specification for a consistent,
well-structured and valid source file suitable for subsequent
transformation into accessible, student-ready versions – NIMAS
version 1.
For additional details, visit: http://NIMAS.cast.org
United States Department of Education
Endorsement, July 27, 2004
What is NIMAS?
• An XML source file (a subset of the ANSI/NISO
z39.86 2002 standard; alternatively known as
DAISY 3)
• A Package File (provides descriptive information
about all files in the package)
• PDF files with embedded images
Sample NIMAS Workflow
validation
Textbook
Order
Publisher
APH
National
Repository
XML
Print
Version
validation
Conversion
Entity
Alternate Formats:
Braille, Digital Talking Book,
Large Print, etc.
IDEA 2004 Statutory Requirements
and Policy Points
A significant area of improvement in IDEA 2004, P.L. 108-446, is the
new provision of textbooks in accessible formats for students who
are blind or print disabled.
Featured IDEA Language-• To establish a standard file format for the production of textbooks so
textbooks can be more easily converted into accessible formats
such as braille, large print and digital text.
• To ensure the state agencies and school districts will require
publishers to produce these files.
• To establish a central repository/access center for storage and
distribution of the files.
Key Definitions (2 of 3)
Print Instructional Materials
• The term ‘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. Sec. 674(e)(3)(C)
Specialized Formats
• The term ‘specialized formats’ has the meaning given the term in section
121(d)(3) of title 17, United States Code. Sec. 674(e)(3)(D)
• Defined as:
–
–
–
–
Braille
Audio
Digital Text
Large Print (print instructional materials only)
Key Definitions (3 of 3)
Blind or Other Persons with Print Disabilities
• The term ‘blind or other persons with print disabilities’ means
children served under this Act and who may qualify in accordance
with the Act entitled ‘An Act to provide books for the adult blind’,
approved March 3, 1931 (2 U.S.C. 135a; 46 Stat. 1487) to receive
books and other publications produced in specialized formats. Sec.
674(e)(3)(A)
– Blind and for other physically handicapped residents of the United
States who are certified by competent authority as unable to read
normal printed material as a result of physical limitations.
• Nothing in this bill changes the existing definition of blind or other
persons with print disabilities as set out under the Chafee
Amendment
IDEA 2004: What is Required of States?
The requirements for state educational agencies are enumerated in
Sec. 612 (a) (23) ACCESS TO INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
•
As a condition of eligibility for funds, the State must adopt the National
Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard for the purposes of providing
instructional materials to blind persons or other persons with print
disabilities, in a timely manner after the publication of the National
Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard in the Federal Register.
•
State educational agencies and local educational agencies MAY CHOOSE
to coordinate with the National Instructional Materials Access Center
(NIMAC).
– IDEA does not require any State educational agency to coordinate with the
NIMAC.
– If a State educational agency chooses not to coordinate with the NIMAC, it must
provide an assurance to the Secretary that the agency will provide instructional
materials to blind persons or other persons with print disabilities in a timely
manner.
IDEA 2004: Coordination with NIMAC
• Within 2 years, the agency, as part of any print instructional
materials adoption process, procurement contract, or other practice
or instrument used for purchase of print instructional material, shall
enter into a written contract with the publisher of the print
instructional materials to:
– Require the publisher to prepare and, on or before delivery of the print
instructional materials, provide to the National Instructional Materials
Access Center electronic files containing the contents of the print
instructional materials using the NIMAS Standard; or
– Purchase instructional materials from the publisher that are produced in,
or may be rendered in, specialized formats.
• State educational agencies are encouraged to work collaboratively
with the State agency responsible for assistive technology programs
to the maximum extent possible.
IDEA 2004: What is the National
Instructional Materials Access Center
(NIMAC)?
• Part D—National Activities to Improve Education of Children with
Disabilities
– Established by Sec. 674 (e)
• Directs the Secretary of Education to establish and support, through
the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), a center to be
known as the ‘National Instructional Materials Access Center’
(NIMAC)
• Deadline: 1 year following enactment of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 (signed into law on
December 3, 2004).
NIMAC Duties
•
To receive and maintain a catalog of print instructional materials prepared in
the NIMAS and made available by the textbook publishing industry, SEAs
and LEAs.
•
To provide access to print instructional materials, including textbooks, in
accessible media, free of charge, to blind or other persons with print
disabilities in elementary schools and secondary schools, in accordance
with such terms and procedures as the National Instructional Materials
Access Center may prescribe.
•
To develop, adopt and publish procedures to protect against copyright
infringement, with respect to the print instructional materials provided under
sections 612(a)(23) and 613(a)(6).
•
Applies to print instructional materials published after the date on which the
final rule establishing the NIMAS is published in the Federal Register.
IDEA 2004: What is Required of LEAs?
• Requirements are enumerated in:
– Section 613 (a) (6) Purchase of Instructional Materials.
•
Within 2 years, a local educational agency that chooses to coordinate with
the NIMAC, when purchasing print instructional materials, shall acquire the
print instructional materials in the same manner and subject to the same
conditions as a State educational agency acquires print instructional
materials under Section 612 (a) (23).
•
Nothing in IDEA requires a local educational agency to coordinate with the
NIMAC
– LEA must provide an assurance to the State educational agency that the
local educational agency will provide instructional materials to blind
persons or other persons with print disabilities in a timely manner if it
chooses not to coordinate with the NIMAC
What is the Chafee Amendment?
• Exception to the exclusive rights of a copyright holder
• Allows an authorized entity to reproduce or distribute copies or
recordings of a previously published, non-dramatic literacy work in
specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with
disabilities.
– …'specialized formats' means braille, audio, or digital text which is
exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.“
• National Library Service:
– “Individuals with reading disabilities are not expressly covered by
this statute. Under Public Law 89-522, only persons whose reading
disabilities are physically based are eligible.”
Amendments to Copyright Law
• Clearly excludes publishers acting in compliance with NIMAS from
liability for copyright infringement by adding a new paragraph to the
Chaffee Amendment:
– It is not an infringement of copyright for a publisher of print instructional
materials for use in elementary or secondary schools to create and
distribute to the NIMAC copies of the electronic files described in
sections 612(a)(23)(C), 613(a)(6), and section 674(e) of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act that contain the contents of print
instructional materials using the National Instructional Material
Accessibility Standard (as defined in section 674(e)(3) of that Act), if—
• the inclusion of the contents of such print instructional materials is required
by any State educational agency or local educational agency;
• the publisher had the right to publish such print instructional materials in print
formats; and
• such copies are used solely for reproduction or distribution of the contents of
such print instructional materials in specialized formats’
Amendments to Copyright Law
• Adds a definition of print instructional materials to Chaffee
Amendment
• Expands the definition of specialized formats with respect to print
instructional materials only to include large print formats when such
materials are distributed exclusively for use by blind or other
persons with disabilities
Relationship Between NIMAS & Chafee
• NIMAS is intended to help expedite the process
for providing print instructional materials in the
classroom to students who qualify for print
instructional materials in specialized formats as
set forth under the Chafee Amendment to the
Copyright Act.
The Chafee Amendment
Publisher
Special Needs Students
Conversion
Entity
The NIMAS Centers at CAST
NIMAS Development and NIMAS Technical Assistance Centers
established by OSEP on October 1, 2004 <http://nimas.cast.org>
The NIMAS Development Center
This Center provides national leadership to further the
development and maintenance of NIMAS and
supports its large-scale implementation by:
• Identifying technological advances and pedagogical research that
support effective revisions and enhancements of NIMAS as a
standard for developing universally designed, multiple-output
formats in a cost-effective and timely manner.
• Building and supporting the capacity of the NIMAS Technical
Assistance Center, which is also being established by OSEP, to
implement the adoption of NIMAS by states and other entities;
• Exploring the feasibility of a free-market distribution model to
increase the quality, quantity, and timely delivery of accessible
materials.
The NIMAS Technical Assistance Center
This Center provides support to publishers and states
to ensure the successful implementation of NIMAS
by:
• Planning and evaluation of technical assistance to improve the
availability and timely delivery of accessible materials to student and
teachers;
• Technical assistance to states and other entities that have adopted
or are considering adopting NIMAS and support for a timely phasein of NIMAS;
• Collaboration among various Department-funded stakeholders to
ensure the coordinated and effective implementation of NIMAS; and
• Dissemination of relevant information and resources about the
benefits and availability of accessible digital materials to key
stakeholders.
Anticipated NIMAS Outcomes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Preparation of NIMAS files by Textbook Publishers
Implementation of a centralized repository (NIMAC at APH)
Use of NIMAS files by State Education Agencies (through NIMAC)
Use of NIMAS files by Local Education Agencies (through NIMAC)
Use of NIMAS files by authorized entities (through NIMAC)
Use of NIMAS generated Braille files by students
Use of NIMAS generated large print editions by students
Use of NIMAS generated accessible HTML, Daisy (2 & 3) and other
formats by authorized students with print disabilities
• Implementation of a market model with direct distribution of student
ready versions by the publishers to students
“More than at any other time, when I
hold a beloved book in my hand my
limitations fall from me, my spirit is
free”
– Helen Keller
– Midstream, 1930