Issue Number 19: February 22, 2005

CAST National Consortium on Universal Design for Learning News

Issue 19 of the Consortium Newsletter focuses on accessible materials and use of hand helds for data driven decision making to inform instruction. These topics are relevant and timely in promoting access, participation and progress in the general education curriculum for all learners.

In the majority of the nation's approximately 100,000 public and private K-12 schools, textbooks are the primary curriculum material. For many students, the textbook is a barrier to learning. Read The Promise of Accessible Textbooks: Increased Achievement for All Students to gain a better understanding of the challenges, solutions, and policies that impact learners and educators.

The Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), identifies CAST as the leader of two NIMAS National Centers, that guide the production and electronic distribution of digital versions of textbooks and other instructional materials so they can be more easily converted to accessible formats, including Braille and text-to-speech. The USDOE wrote that "students with blindness, low vision and print disabilities are expected to gain improved access to textbooks."

You are invited!
AFB and CAST Present: What is NIMAS?
The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and CAST are proud to present: What is NIMAS?: A New File Format for Developing Textbooks and Instructional Materials for Students K-12 with Visual or Print Disabilities

When:
Thursday, March 10, 2005
12:00 p.m. registration and light refreshments
1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Discussion, Questions and Answers

Where:
Long Wharf Marriott in Boston, Massachusetts
Register on-line at www.afb.org/NIMAS.asp

Data driven decision-making, centered on the collection and analysis of a range of student data, is widely recognized as fundamentally important for educators. What does the literature say about using data to inform instructional decision? Read “Improving Teaching and Learning with Data-Based Decisions: Asking the Right Questions and Acting on the Answers” to respond to this question.

Power in the Palm of your Hands, developed by Kathy Schrock provides educators with resources that support effective use of handhelds for learning and instruction.

Learn how to gather timely student data, look at the data in a thoughtful and organized way, and make instructional decisions based upon your students’ data. You can learn these, along with other related skills, by signing up for the latest addition to CAST’s suite of professional development institutes, Universal Design for Learning and data driven decision making. In addition to Action Research Skills participants will learn to use PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) such as the Palm series, and the Sony Clié to help them collect real-time student data. Participants will leave the institute with the knowledge and understanding necessary to begin to start using real-time student data to draw supportable conclusions that can guide their instructional decision making.

Register now for this new CAST offering:
Universal Design for Learning and Data-Driven Decision Making

Date:
March 10 – 11 at CAST in Wakefield, MA

Newsletter Archive
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This issue:
http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=4384

Online archive of the Consortium newsletters – take a look at back issues that highlight varied topics for providing access to the general education curriculum for all learners:
http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=1100

Take a look at other Professional Development Offerings offered by CAST staff.

Thank you for your interest in CAST and our work. It is our intention to send this newsletter only to people who have requested to receive it. If you believe you are receiving this in error or wish to no longer receive it, you can unsubscribe by sending a message to natconsortium@cast.org with a subject of "unsubscribe consortium".

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