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You're Invited to the ETS Research Forum:
As the nation moves toward the rollout of the Common Core Curriculum, an urgent question arises —how can we provide accessible computer-delivered instructional materials and assessments to students who are visually impaired? For purely textual materials the challenge is significant but achievable. However, the current adaptation process for texts containing mathematical material is so costly and time consuming that it effectively limits the educational opportunities we offer to the nation's visually impaired students. With support from the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES, Grant R324A110355, Expanding Audio Access to Mathematics Expressions by Students with Visual Impairments via MathML), ETS and Design Science, Inc. (DSI) have been developing improvements in computerized math accessibility. The focus has been on making math expressions encountered in secondary school Algebra, as well as assessments and instructional materials containing these math expressions, accessible via synthetic speech and interactive navigation. Because literacy rates for reading the specialized braille code (Nemeth) needed to do math are well under 50 percent, improved speech accessibility is imperative. The type of computerized audio access under development supplements braille on a refreshable display for proficient Nemeth code readers, and provides an alternative for those who do not use braille. Increasing math accessibility for visually impaired students gives them greater independence, empowers them to learn math, and helps close the mathematics achievement gap for these students. The presenters will demonstrate the tools that have been developed, summarize the results of studies conducted with these tools, and conclude by describing further improvements that they hope to implement. About the Presenters: Lois Frankel is a senior assessment specialist in ETS's Assessment Development division. Frankel has provided leadership throughout ETS in methods, processes, logistics, and theories of test accessibility since 2002. She is the Principal Investigator of the project being discussed at this session. Additional recent projects include directing a study of mathematics scripting styles, evaluating the accessibility of innovative computer-based item types, leading test development for the IES-funded Technology Assisted Reading Assessment (for middle school students with visual impairments), and devising innovative applications of technology to develop accessible test and test-preparation materials for students with visual impairments. Beth Brownstein, co-Principal Investigator and Math Accessibility Lead for the current project, is also a senior assessment specialist in ETS's Assessment Development division. Brownstein is a mathematics specialist and leader in providing accessible materials, particularly with regard to spoken descriptions of mathematical expressions and figures. She prepares and directs others who prepare alternate media test forms and descriptive material for people with disabilities. She has also worked on projects involving Universal Design, development of mathematics assessments, and has been a primary contributor to the development of technological solutions to accessibility problems. Neil Soiffer, co-Principal Investigator and Technical Lead for the current project, is a senior scientist at DSI, with expertise in math user interface design and in accessibility issues related to math. Soiffer is in charge of MathPlayer's development and leads DSI's accessibility efforts. Prior to joining DSI, Soiffer worked at Wolfram Research where he designed and implemented Mathematica's math editor and notebook front-end programmability. Soiffer chairs DAISY's MathML working group; he was a principal architect for the W3C's MathML specification and remains active in the working group; he is a member of AIIM's PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) and International Digital Publishing Forum's (IDPF) EPUB working group. Soiffer is a member of the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) Standards Board. For questions about the event, please contact Elizabeth Kingsley at 1-202-659-0616. Thank you, Educational Testing Service ADVERTISEMENT Copyright © 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo and LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 23702
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