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 systems for providing accessible materials and technologies for all students who need them. 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.

AEM Pilot Home
Welcome to the AEM Pilot*, an interactive web-based tool that guides states and K-12 school districts to create more inclusive learning environments for students with disabilities. Building background knowledge about accessible educational materials (AEM), conducting self-assessments, and monitoring continuous progress are all facilitated by the AEM Pilot. If your state or district has work to do to improve the accessibility of the materials and technologies provided to learners with disabilities, take off with the AEM Pilot!

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.

Acquiring the accessible formats a learner needs is part of a multi-step decision-making process. By prioritizing accessibility, access barriers for learners with disabilities will be minimized when materials are acquired. In cases where inaccessible materials have been selected, alternative forms - accessible formats - of those materials will have to be acquired for learners who need them. Examples of accessible formats include audio, braille, large print, tactile graphics, and digital text conforming with accessibility standards.

Accessible formats of materials can be acquired from:

Accessible Media Producers (AMPs)
Publishers
Local Conversion

The purpose of the Quality Indicators and Critical Components is to assist state and local education agencies, institutions of higher education and workforce development agencies with planning, implementing, and evaluating dynamic, coordinated systems for the timely provision of accessible educational materials and accessible technologies. Given the variability of policies and practices across these organizations, the Quality Indicators and Critical Components are designed to provide agencies with consistent goals and to promote discussion around multiple methods to achieve those goals.

Guidance and sample language for agencies looking to include accessibility requirements and/or guidance in communications with publishers and developers of digital materials and technologies.

Unify Inclusive Technology Decision-Making
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Individualized educational plans (IEPs) provide a student’s education team with clarity on what a child participates in and how a child engages within an educational program. IEP team members, including students, families, educators, direct service providers, and building administrators, serve as the decision-making body for these supports and services. Technology staff can also consider these plans as a foundation for how technology will support the learner to access the general curriculum.

When the technology needs of students extend beyond the district-wide technology hardware and software resources, the interoperability between the laptop or tablet and the assistive technologies become critical. Device interoperability means information can be sent to and received from an array of devices, including assistive technologies such as screen readers, and other accessibility tools seamlessly.

Students with physical or sensory (visual or hearing) support needs may require such specific assistive technologies. Such devices include single switches, expanded keyboards, screen readers, or captioning programs. TechMatrix is an online database provided by the American Institute for Research that provides more information about available assistive technologies. In addition, some students may have tools such as digital pens or VR sets written in their IEPs to support learning opportunities. Similarly, such tools should sync seamlessly with the student devices.

Actions to unify inclusive technology decision-making with interoperable assistive technologies include:

Collaborate across the IT, EdTech, and AT leadership teams to choose devices and ensure the interoperability of such devices.
Require the purchase of accessible, interoperable technologies by including such requirements in requests for proposals (RFPs) and district contracts. Ensure all partners, such as state educational agencies, regional educational service agencies, and non-profits understand and mimic these practices.
Include individuals with disabilities in procurement and purchasing decisions, such as students, parents, organizational partners, or community volunteers.

Explanation of what "accessible" means, and how it differs from terms such as assistive technology and accommodations.

Coordinating Workforce Development Systems

Adults in a workplace environment collaborating
Career training and other workforce development activities take place across a variety of settings. For example, students with disabilities transition to a range of postsecondary programs, including two- and four-year colleges, career training programs (e.g., pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships), and directly to employment or to seeking employment. The Critical Components of the Quality Indicators for Workforce Development are designed to assist in the development of coordinated systems that result in the timely provision of accessible materials and technologies for all students and job seekers with disabilities who need them, regardless of the setting where services are provided to them.

This page is meant to be an entry point into the creation of accessible content with familiar tools such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs.

This page provides information about Best Practices and Resources for creating accessible OERs.

Learn how to make your posts on a number of social media platforms more accessible by including alternative text for images, properly using hashtags to make your posts searchable and more.

Overview of OER with a demonstraton of how to create accessible OER with Open Author and the introduction of a protocol for the curation of accessible OER.

An explanation of what it means to say educational materials are "accessible" and why accessibility is important.

Practical tips for implementing the four principles of accessibility that are the foundation for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

In inclusive early childhood programs and settings, social and learning activities are designed for the participation of all children. Objects, tools, and materials that are selected for inclusive activities provide options for engaging through multiple sensory, physical, and perceptual means. The Quality Indicators for Early Childhood describe how agencies, programs, and services can work together to improve the accessibility of early learning environments for children with disabilities.

This website provide a list of all the AEM State Contacts in the United States.

Micro video for finding and editing SNUDLE Investigations. For use by coaches, science specialists, and teachers.

Framing the Future of Learning with Technology
The goal of the Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems (CITES) is to empower school districts to create and sustain inclusive technology systems that serve all students, including students with disabilities who require assistive technology or accessible educational materials. To do this work, we are creating and disseminating a framework of evidence-based practices to enhance the successful use of technology by all students. We provide technical assistance to districts, educators, and families to ensure that students with disabilities are able to use the technology tools they need to foster learning and life success.