The Oregon AEM Cohort

The map of the united states shows the seven states chosen for the CAST National Accessible Educational Materials Center AIM Cohort State Partners for 2020-24. Click the image to link to the CAST announcement.

CAST’s National AEM Center Announces 2020-2024 State Partners

What is the goal of the AEM Cohort?

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (AEM Center) is a technical assistance (TA) center led by CAST and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. The Center’s goal is to increase the availability and use of AEM and accessible technologies by individuals with disabilities in early learning, K-12, higher education, and workforce development settings. Oregon is one of seven states selected to create a national AEM Cohort. With the Center’s expert assistance, each state in the AEM Cohort will develop a coordinated system for providing AEM and accessible technologies across the continuum of state educational services.

The graphic shows a structure of support for multi-tiered systems of support. Accessible Educational Materials, AIM, provide the foundation for the pillars of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, Universal Design for Learning, Response to Intervention, instructional and assistive technologies. ,

What are Accessible Educational Materials?

"Accessible educational materials, or AEM, are print- and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are designed or converted in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of student variability regardless of format (print, digital, graphic, audio, video)."

http://aem.cast.org/about/what-are-aem

"Requiring the use of an emerging technology in the classroom that is inaccessible to students with disabilities constitutes discrimination under the ADA and under Section 504 unless these students are provided with accommodations or modifications that enable them to receive all the educational benefits afforded by the technology in an equally effective and equally integrated manner. According to the DCL, students with disabilities must be able to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as students without disabilities with substantially equivalent ease of use."

Joint letter from the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice DOJ)

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20100629.html