Database of Federally Funded Technical Assistance and Research Centers

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.

The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) focuses on the inclusion of students with disabilities, English learners, and English learners with disabilities in instruction and assessments. The scope of NCEO’s work includes issues related to accessibility of assessments across the comprehensive assessment system including formative assessment practices, classroom-based assessments, diagnostic assessments, interim assessments, and summative assessments.

NCEO is a leader in advocating for appropriate testing access and accommodations for students with disabilities, including English learners with disabilities and English learners without disabilities. NCEO works to ensure that the assessment results for these groups of students are reported just as they are for other students and that they influence accountability systems in the same way as they do other students.

The National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC) provides evidence-based strategies to deaf individuals, family members, and professionals at the local, state, and national levels with the goal of closing education and employment gaps for deaf individuals.

The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C) is a Technical Assistance Center co-funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).  They provide information, tools, and supports to assist multiple stakeholders in delivering effective services and instruction for secondary students and out of school youth with disabilities.

The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Pacific translates research to practice in partnership with policymakers and practitioners in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.