Database of Federally Funded Technical Assistance and Research Centers

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The Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy Center) is a national technical assistance center funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). DaSy Center works with states to support IDEA early intervention and early childhood special education state programs in the development or enhancement of coordinated early childhood longitudinal data systems.

DaSy Canter provides technical assistance (TA) and resources to state agencies to assist with the development or enhancement of data systems for Part C early intervention and Part B preschool special education programs supported through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The DaSy Center collaborates with other projects to leverage what is known and generate new ideas and products to help state agencies create and expand early childhood cross-agency and longitudinal data systems that include the Part C and Part B preschool data needed to collect, analyze, and report high-quality data required under IDEA.  We offer a range of supports based on our clients needs including intensive and targeted TA as well as opportunities to join DaSy Center led communities of practice or attend webinars. 

The purpose of the project is to increase the body of knowledge on equitable and innovative approaches for implementing and integrating technology into informal and formal authentic early childhood assessments and to build capacity of the field to use technology to support authentic assessment through disseminating tools, methods, and frameworks.

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (AEM Center) at CAST is a knowledge-development, information dissemination, and technical assistance project whose activities and actions are designed to:

1. Expand and disseminate knowledge about Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) and technologies among key stakeholder groups.
2. Increase AEM Center stakeholders’ skills; and motivation.
3. Improve and enhance the organizational, material and structural capacities of AEM stakeholders so that they effectively use AEM resources.

The overall goal established by CAST and OSEP pertains to improvements in the availability and use of accessible educational materials and technologies for learning.

Created by IDEA 2004, the NIMAC is a federally-funded, searchable online repository of source files for K-12 instructional materials. We receive files in the XML-based NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) format, and states use these materials in the production of accessible formats such as braille, large print, and digital text. The NIMAC currently has over 74,000 files from more than 160 publishers.

The Rhonda Weiss Center for Accessible IDEA Data improves state capacity to report Part B and Part C Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) data in accessible formats.

The Weiss Center, along with trusted partners, works closely with states to help them deal with challenges related to making IDEA data accessible.

The services delivered by the Weiss Center will benefit state education agencies in the following ways:

• Improve knowledge about accessibility needs, standards, best practices, and how to apply them.
• Build skills and competency needed to make state-level data more accessible in dynamic formats.
• Enhance ability to sharing knowledge about accessibility with other states, local education agencies (LEAs), and early intervention (EI) programs.
• Increase access to data by people who have historically been excluded. This will improve data quality due to broader data use and analysis.