Database of Federally Funded Technical Assistance and Research Centers

Bookshare

Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.

Bookshare is an ebook library that makes reading easier. Members can access a huge collection of ebooks and read their way with the most customizable ebooks for people with reading barriers.

The library has 1,233,523 titles and is the most extensive collection of accessible ebooks in the world. It includes books for school, career, and reading pleasure, as well as titles in over 34 languages. The collection is supported by a dedicated volunteer community and partnerships with over 1000 US and international publishers.

Director(s): Ayan Kishore, CEO

Specialty Area

  • Accessible Education Materials

Primary Audience

  • Families
  • Schools
  • Teachers

Services

  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning (CIDDL)

The Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning (CIDDL)is serving as the National Center to Improve Faculty Capacity to Use Educational Technology in Special Education, Early Intervention, and Related Services Personnel Preparation and Leadership Personnel Preparation Programs. We are primarily focused on the following activities:

  • Increasing knowledge, adoption, and use of a range of educational technologies that can be used for educator, related service, or leadership preparation programs;
  • Increasing capacity of faculty at institutions of higher education (IHE) to use a range of educational technologies in educator, related service, or leadership preparation programs;
  • Sustaining professional learning networks related to educational technology in educator, related service, and leadership preparation programs.
Director(s): James D. Basham, Ph.D., Director

Specialty Area

  • Educational Technology
  • Personal Preparation

Primary Audience

  • School Counselors
  • Schools
  • Teachers

Services

  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems (CITES)

The Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems (CITES) aims to empower school districts to build and maintain technology systems that include every student, particularly children and youth with disabilities who require assistive technology and accessible materials. The CITES Framework is a helpful guide that encourages positive change within a district. It works alongside technology and instructional efforts already in place, bringing together experts and coaches at various levels to assist local teams in making and maintaining inclusive technology systems.

Director(s): Jill Brown Director, Professional Learning, CoSN
Website:

Specialty Area

  • Educational Technology

Primary Audience

  • Administrators
  • Families
  • School Counselors
  • School Districts
  • Schools
  • State Education Agencies
  • Teachers

Services

  • Coaching
  • Consulting
  • Content Expertise
  • Research

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS Center)

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE),  the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) supports schools, districts, and states to build systems capacity for implementing a multi-tiered approach to social, emotional and behavior support. The broad purpose of PBIS is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of schools and other agencies. PBIS improves social, emotional and academic outcomes for all students, including students with disabilities and students from underrepresented groups.

Director(s): Heather George, Tim Lewis, Kent McIntosh, Brandi Simonsen

Specialty Area

  • Education Leadership
  • Evidence Based Practices & Scaling Up
  • Family Engagement
  • Intensive Supports
  • Multi-tiered Systems of Support
  • Organizational Leadership
  • Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS)
  • Response to Intervention
  • School Climate & Behavior
  • School Mental Health
  • Social and Emotional Learning
  • Special Education
  • System Alignment

Primary Audience

  • Administrators
  • Families
  • School Counselors
  • School Districts
  • Schools
  • State Education Agencies

Services

  • Assessment Tools
  • Coaching
  • Consulting
  • Content Expertise
  • Research

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

Other Specialty Areas: Implementation Science; Prevention Science

Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP)

DCMP provides a streaming library of accessible education videos, teaching tools, and professional development opportunities. They partner with educational content creators to provide high-quality captioning, audio description, and American Sign Language (ASL) translation.

Families and school personnel who have at least one early learner-Grade 12 child with a disability qualify for free DCMP membership. Educational professionals in training also qualify.  Professional development opportunities are available to members, and many eLearning resources are available to everyone.

Director(s):

Specialty Area

  • Deaf-Blindness

Primary Audience

  • Families
  • School Counselors
  • Schools
  • Teachers

Services

  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

Innovative Technology for Early Childhood Assessment (INTECA)

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.

Director(s): Kathy Hebbeler

Specialty Area

  • Educational Technology
  • Part C

Primary Audience

  • Administrators
  • Families
  • School Counselors
  • School Districts
  • Schools
  • State Education Agencies
  • Teachers

Services

  • Consulting
  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO)

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.

Director(s): Sheryl Lazarus, Ph.D. - NCEO Director, Kristi Liu, Ph.D. - NCEO Assistant Director

Specialty Area

  • Assessment and Alternative Assessment

Primary Audience

  • Administrators
  • Families
  • School Counselors
  • School Districts
  • Schools
  • State Education Agencies
  • Teachers

Services

  • Consulting
  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

National Instructional Materials Access Center

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.

Director(s): Rebecca Sheffield, U.S. Dept. of Education OSEP Project Officer for NIMAC

Specialty Area

  • Accessible Education Materials
  • Educational Technology

Primary Audience

  • Administrators
  • Families
  • School Counselors
  • School Districts
  • Schools
  • State Education Agencies
  • Teachers

Services

  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

STEMIE: Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education

he STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMI2E2) Center aims to:

  • Develop and enhance the knowledge base on engagement in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning opportunities for young children with disabilities (O-5);
  • Implement high-quality technical assistance and professional development to increase engagement for young children with disabilities in STEM opportunities; and
  • Engage partners and stakeholders from diverse disciplines and industry in work to increase the inclusion of young children with disabilities in early high-quality STEM learning experiences.
Director(s): Megan Vinh

Specialty Area

  • Educational Technology
  • Inclusive Practices

Primary Audience

  • Administrators
  • Families
  • School Counselors
  • School Districts
  • Schools
  • State Education Agencies
  • Teachers

Services

  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information

The Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC)

The Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC) assists states to build Comprehensive Systems of Personnel Development (CSPD)to improve outcomes for infants and young children with disabilities and their families.

The center is focused on building awareness that an integrated, comprehensive system of personnel development (CSPD) for the early childhood (EC) workforce in every state – one that is cohesive with state and national personnel standards, competencies, and recommended practices, will produce the most successful outcomes for children and families with disabilities.

Director(s): Mary Beth Bruder, Director

Specialty Area

  • Supporting Parents and Families

Primary Audience

  • School Districts
  • Schools
  • State Education Agencies

Services

  • Content Expertise

Regions/States

National

All States

Level of Support

General

Additional Information