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

PublisherAPH

NationalRepository

Textbook Order

ConversionEntity

validation

validation

Alternate Formats:Braille, Digital Talking Book,

Large Print, etc.

PrintVersion

XML

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

ConversionEntity

Special Needs Students

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 phase-in 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