What is the AIM Consortium?

As part of a US Department of Education grant for the provision of Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) entered into a consortium project with the Center of Applied Special Technologies (CAST) and the states of Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Parts 1 and 3 of the consortium project provided for integrated activities with all members of the consortium and CAST . Part 2 of the consortium project allowed each state to develop focused state activities.

What are the focused state activities for LA?

Louisiana will focus on 3 areas:

1. Develop data management and tracking systems for administering NIMAS files and delivering instructional materials in accessible formats.

2. Develop and implement a plan for providing professional development designed to improve the capacity of LEAs to understand the provisions of Section 300.172 of Part B of IDEA 2004, identify students with print disabilities, determine which specialized formats and technology tools are appropriate for students with print disabilities, and acquire specialized formats and supporting tools to students with print disabilities.

3.Improve LDE communications regarding accessible instructional materials and NIMAS by developing talking points and a core message for sharing with others.

Who benefits from AIM?

1. Students who have difficulty reading and may need supports such as text-to-speech.
2. Students who need text transferred into alternate formats such as large print, braille or another language.
3. Students with visual difficulties who may require larger text, colored text, contrasting background or larger spacing between text.

Proposed Timeline for Acquiring AIM (PDF)