NIMAS - National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard
NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard)
Delaware State NIMAS Coordinator
Sarah Celestin
Delaware Department of Education
302-735-4210
- NIMAS Regulations
- Topical Brief on NIMAS
- NIMAS guides the production and electronic distribution of digital versions of textbooks and other instructional materials so they can be more easily converted into accessible formats. Two national centers were awarded to the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). NIMAS Development Center and NIMAS Technical Assistance Center were established to further the developmental and implementation of NIMAS.
- What is NIMAS and NIMAS Workflow Graphic and Text Description
- NIMAS Resources - including Background Knowledge, Support for SEA and LEAs, Primary Contacts, the NIMAC, Developing and Using NIMAS Filesets, Policy and Research
- U.S. Department of Education Training Modules
- Building the Legacy: A training Curriculum on IDEA 2004 -The Building the Legacy training curriculum was produced by the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) at the request of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) The NIMAS training module was created in cooperation with the NIMAS Development Center and OSEP. The curriculum is intended to assist in understanding and implementation of the IDEA 2004 Part B regulations. It includes PowerPoint presentation, discussion (training notes and handouts. Scroll down to Module 8 which focuses on NIMAS, the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard, and includes the following components provided in separate files.
- Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004 Dialog Guide
- Building the Legacy: Question and Answers on NIMAS
- American Foundation for the Blind defines NIMAS.
- AFB has a checklist that has been formulated as a tool for reviewing a state or local district's current system of providing accessible textbooks and instructional materials to students who are blind or visually impaired. It is not a survey but a self-assessment tool to determine issues that need to be addressed in order to improve services to students. It can also be used to create a model profile of efficient systems that could be used as states and local districts begin implementing components of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), P.L. 108-446, regarding production and delivery of accessible textbooks and instructional materials.
- American Foundation for the Blind: Frequently Asked Questions about NIMAS & NIMAC
- OSEP Part B Regulations Regional Implementation Meetings PowerPoint NIMAS (RIM 2007)
- View Archived NIMAS Webinar Recordings delivered by Chuck Hitchcock, Director, NIMAS Development and Technical Assistance Centers and Chief Technology Officer - NIMAS 101: What Educators Need to Know, NIMAS: Implementation Issues and Solutions
- Other related webinars and recorded sessions
- NIMAS/NIMAC Workflow image in graphic form
- National Instructional Materials Access Center IDEA 2004 mandated the establishment of the National Instructional Materials Access Center as a national repository for publishers' electronic files of textbooks and core related instructional materials in the NIMAS file format for students who qualify as having a print disability. It is a repository, established by the American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky. Each state specifies authorized users that will be able to download the files for a specific student use in a designated, specialized format. The NIMAS file format is not student ready or ready for student use.
