Realizing the Benefits of Digital Content: Taking the Tools to Scale OSEP Project Director’s Meeting July 31, 2006

National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) NIMAS establishes a standard file format for digital textbooks (IDEIA-2004) Required that all publishers comply by December, 2006 Publishers to provide digital copies to NIMAC for distribution to states –National Instructional Materials Access American Printing House for the Blind –

Systemic Model for Accessing General Curriculum and Assessment Kentucky Components 1.State digital text repository 2.Statewide infrastructure of assistive technologies to use digital text 3.Classroom and state accountability assessment in accessible digital format

State Repository for Digital Text Centralized state system for rendering NIMAC files student ready, local viewing and distribution of digital textbooks Needs to include mechanisms for copyright protection

KAMC & KAMD: State Model for Digital Text Repository KY Accessible Materials Consortium (KAMC) Established in response to 2002 KY digital textbook law KAMC created at University of Louisville in 2003 by Ky. Dept. of Ed. Digital copies come from publishers each year by area of content adoption 1500 digital textbooks available by fall of 2006  KY Accessible Materials Database (KAMD) (August, 2004)  Ky. Dept. of Ed. online searchable digital text database  Requires local “Digital Rights Manager” (DRM)

Additional Digital Text Sources 90 sites containing or linking to digital text ● Internet Public Library (IPL) 40,000 E- Books that can be read online or for free download

Building the Assistive Technology Infrastructure for Use of Digital Text Since 2001 over 1300 KY schools (95%) have acquired a text reader Site license (i.e., Read & Write 50% discount ( Inclusive reader (reads in window)

Tools of Read & Write Gold 8.0 ( Text to Speech (TTS) Speech to Text (Dictation) Text to audio (MP3 conversion) Talking spell check, dictionary, calculator Word Prediction Mind Mapping (Graphic organizer) English to Spanish Translation Accessible Test Maker Tool Download

Need for Accessible Digital State Assessment KY state assessment accessible (CATS Online) for use with assistive technology Available to all eligible students with disabilities since 2003 Number of participating students almost doubled annually

KY Accessible State Assessment Year of CATS Online State Assessment Number of Participating Schools Number of Participating Students with Disabilities schools204 students schools510 students schools1200 students schools2306 students

CATS Online 2005 Post-Test Survey: Student Responses 83% said they could concentrate better reading the test on computer 78% said they preferred taking the test on computer 84% said they re-read passages/questions/answers 91% of students thought they scored better

Student Comments “I liked it alot, because you got to hear them read to you and see what they were reading.” Gr. 11 “i like being on the computer and not having someone read to me like a kid” Gr. 10 “It was easy and I liked it because I could do it by myself.” Gr.4 “It was better than listening to an adult read and I could go at my own pace.” Gr. 7

CATS Online Demo Site Grade Login ID 4 g04st g10st g05st g11st g07st g12st g08st4057

Student View: New Preferences

Student View: Multiple Choice

Lessons Learned: Digital Access is More Then Text Need for creating and providing digital curriculum (digital textbooks not enough) Assistive technologies must be readily available across settings ( more kids are ready than adults to use the technology) Providing state assessment in accessible (universally designed) digital format gives students better way to demonstrate what they have learned

For more information contact: Preston Lewis Human Development Institute University of Kentucky (859) (ext )