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This guide addresses the challenge of inaccessible digital learning resources by providing K-12 education stakeholders with actionable information about EPUB, a digital file format. EPUB is a widely adopted format for many digital books and is specifically designed to display text, audio, images and, in some cases, video in a manner usable by all learners, especially those with sensory, physical and learning disabilities including those who use assistive technology (AT). For these students, the ability to personalize the format of learning materials is essential; and for all students, EPUB simply provides more options: it can be more accessible, in more ways, than any other format. EPUB has been fully embraced by higher education publishers, and K-12 publishers are now starting to modify their publishing workflows to create EPUB content. Users of this guide will learn how apps (reading systems) can personalize the reading experience, which benefits everybody. It also details how students with reading difficulties can benefit from the rich range of accessibility features built into the EPUB format and into apps. Teachers and curriculum development professionals will learn how to use common word processing software to create their own fully accessible materials as EPUBs. [This report was co-prepared by the DAISY Consortium and Bookshare.]

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (National AEM Center) at CAST is a technical assistance (TA) center funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The purpose of the Center is to improve educational and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities through TA activities that increase both the availability and the use of accessible materials and technology. The Center's stakeholders serve and advocate for individuals with disabilities and their families across the continuum of educational settings: early learning, K-12, and postsecondary academic and career training programs. The AEM Center's TA is guided by the Quality Indicators for the Provision of AEM and Accessible Technologies. The seven Quality Indicators describe the essential elements of a system that ensures the consistent, reliable, and timely provision of high-quality accessible materials and technology for all learners who need them, including those with disabilities. While intended to be implemented by a coordinated team of representatives from within a system (i.e., state, district, higher ed institution, or workforce agency), each individual representative needs an operational understanding of the Quality Indicators. It is through a collective understanding of individual roles and responsibilities that systems change occurs. The purpose of this guide is to facilitate both individual and collective understanding of the AEM Quality Indicators.

Families play an important role in ensuring their child with a disability has access to the educational materials they need to learn and succeed. This guide is designed for parents and caregivers of children who require accessible educational materials (AEM) for learning. It will provide you with information about what AEM are, how they can benefit your child, and how you can work with your child's teachers and education team to make sure your child receives the AEM they need. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the nation's special education law that gives you and your child certain rights and protections in the special education process. The IDEA requires that students with disabilities who need AEM receive them in a timely manner. This means school districts must take reasonable steps to provide AEM to eligible students with disabilities without delay. This guide was created to help families learn: (1) What AEM are; (2) Why a student may need AEM; (3) Laws related to a student's right to receive AEM; (4) How AEM are provided to students; (5) What supports are necessary to effectively use them; and (6) Next steps for parents/caregivers of students who need AEM With this knowledge, families can help ensure their child with a disability has access to the materials they need for independence, participation, and progress in general education classes.

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (National AEM Center) at CAST is a technical assistance (TA) center funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The purpose of the Center is to improve educational and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities through TA activities that increase both the availability and the use of accessible materials and technologies. The Center's stakeholders serve and advocate for individuals with disabilities and their families across the continuum of educational settings: early learning, K-12, and postsecondary academic and career training programs. The AEM Center's TA is guided by the Quality Indicators for the Provision of AEM and Accessible Technologies. The seven Quality Indicators describe the essential elements of a system that ensures the consistent, reliable, and timely provision of high-quality accessible materials and technologies for all learners who need them, including those with disabilities. While intended to be implemented by a coordinated team of representatives from within a system (i.e., state, district, higher ed institution, or workforce agency), each individual representative needs an operational understanding of the Quality Indicators. It is through a collective understanding of individual roles and responsibilities that systems change occurs. The purpose of this guide is to facilitate both individual and collective understanding of the AEM Quality Indicators.

The Innovation Configuration for the Quality Indicators with Critical Components for Providing AEM and Accessible Technologies in Higher Education (IC for the AEM Quality Indicators) is designed to assist campus or university system teams with establishing an implementation plan and monitoring progress over time. As described by the CEEDAR Center, an Innovation Configuration (IC) is a tool that identifies and describes the major components of a practice or innovation. With the implementation of any innovation comes a continuum of configurations from non-use to the ideal (Bailey et al., 2020). ICs are organized around two dimensions: essential components and degree of implementation (Hall & Hord, 1987; Roy & Hord, 2004). The IC presented in this guide is aligned with the AEM Quality Indicators for Higher Education. The Quality Indicators provide guidance for any institution that is committed to the process of creating and sustaining a coordinated system for providing accessible materials and technologies for all learners who need them -- in high quality and in a timely manner. Using the IC for the AEM Quality Indicators, institution representatives identify the level that best describes the implementation stage of each Critical Component, from "not started" to "robust."

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (National AEM Center) at CAST is a technical assistance (TA) center funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the Center is to improve educational and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities through TA activities that increase both the availability and the use of accessible materials and technologies. The AEM Center's TA is guided by the Quality Indicators for the Provision of AEM and Accessible Technologies. The seven Quality Indicators describe the essential elements of a system that ensures the consistent and reliable provision of high-quality and timely accessible materials and technologies for all learners who need them, including those with disabilities. This guide is for any individual seeking to develop knowledge and practical skills related to the Quality Indicators with Critical Components for Higher Education.

This guide is for any individual seeking to develop knowledge and practical skills related to the "Quality Indicators with Critical Components for K-12." The target audience includes administrators, educators, and service providers at the state and local levels, as well as families of students with disabilities. As a result of completing the suggested activities in this guide, you should be prepared to use some relevant best practices for providing accessible materials and technologies in your setting. This guide is also designed to prepare individuals to be active and meaningful contributors to a team that is working toward systems change at the state and/or local levels. [For "AEM Quality Indicators with Critical Components for K-12: SEAs and LEAs. V.3.0," see ED613148.]

The availability of high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) plays an important role in addressing equity issues in education. For its full potential to be realized for every learner, however, OER must be more than openly licensed at a reasonable cost. They must also be usable across the variability that learners bring to any learning environment. The purpose of the Protocol for Curating Accessible OER is to provide detailed yet easily implemented techniques for evaluating the accessibility of OER in a variety of formats, including Microsoft Word, Google Workspace and PDF documents, websites and instructional videos.

The AEM Navigator facilitates the process of decision-making around accessible formats of educational materials for individual students. It assists teams in making informed, accurate, and multi-step decisions related to determining a student's need for accessible formats, selecting the format(s) needed, acquiring materials, and determining the supports needed by the student, family, and school staff.

The purpose of this brief is to help families and educators understand the right of students with disabilities who need accessible educational materials to receive these materials in a timely manner. This right is based on provisions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as in the disability civil rights statutes Section 504 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Questions often arise about how accessible educational materials (AEM) might be included in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The two purposes of this article are to (1) help families and educators understand the importance of including AEM in the IEPs of students who require them, and (2) to discuss locations in the IEP where it may be appropriate to refer to a student's need for and use of AEM. [For the accompanying policy brief, "AEM Center Brief: The Right of Students with Disabilities Who Need Accessible Educational Materials to Receive These Materials in a Timely Manner," see ED616206.]

The purpose of the National AEM Center's Quality Indicators with Critical Components for K-12 is to assist State and local education agencies with planning, implementing, and evaluating dynamic, coordinated systems for providing accessible materials and technologies for all students who need them. The ultimate goal of an AEM provision system is that accessibility becomes an essential criterion in the procurement and creation of high-quality educational materials and technologies. To that end, the Quality Indicators with Critical Components are a means to provide States and local school districts with consistent objectives, and to promote discussion around multiple methods to achieve those objectives. The Quality Indicators are brief statements that point to exemplifying conditions and services for creating and sustaining a statewide, high-quality AEM provision system. States and local school districts will find the Quality Indicators useful for implementing statutory requirements that mandate equitable access to learning opportunities for students with disabilities, including equal access to printed materials, digital materials, and technologies.

As the Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center states, children with disabilities have the right to participate in everyday activities with their typically developing peers. In inclusive early childhood programs and settings, social and learning activities are designed for the participation of all children. The provision and use of accessible materials and technologies for children with disabilities in early childhood programs is effectively achieved through a systemic approach. Under state leadership, a cross-sector team of stakeholders work together to ensure that federal and state requirements and expectations for the provision of services and supports for children with disabilities include the provision and use of accessible materials and technologies. The National AEM Center's Quality Indicators describe the essential elements of such a system, including coordination, compliance, guidelines, professional development, data procedures, and resources. The indicators can be used by decision makers to develop new procurement systems or to self-evaluate an existing system that may not yet include best practices for accessibility. Version 1.0 of the Quality Indicators is specific to programs that serve children ages three-five years receiving special education and related services under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA Part B).

The purpose of the National AEM Center's Quality Indicators with Critical Components for Workforce Development is to assist workforce development agencies and programs with planning, implementing, and evaluating dynamic, coordinated systems for providing accessible materials and technologies for all career seekers who need them. The ultimate goal of an AEM provision system is that accessibility becomes an essential criterion in the procurement and creation of high-quality educational materials and technologies. To that end, the Quality Indicators with Critical Components are a means to provide agencies and programs with consistent objectives, and to promote discussion around multiple methods to achieve those objectives. The Quality Indicators are brief statements that point to exemplifying conditions and services for creating and sustaining a systemwide high-quality AEM provision system. Workforce development agencies and programs, both secondary and postsecondary, will find the Quality Indicators useful for implementing statutory requirements that mandate equitable access to learning opportunities for career seekers with disabilities, including equal access to printed materials, digital materials, and technologies. The Quality Indicators with Critical Components for Workforce Development are intended to be implemented in partnership with a state education agency (SEA) that is creating and sustaining a statewide AEM provision system for K-12. Workforce development agencies and programs should coordinate with the SEA to ensure that career seekers with disabilities are benefitting from that provision system, as well as its own best practices aligned.