Copyright 1999 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
March 11, 1999, Thursday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 2123 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY March 11, 1999 TUCK TINSLEY, III PRESIDENT AMERICAN PRINTING
HOUSE FOR THE BLIND HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS
LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION F2000 LABOR - HHS APPROPRIATIONS
BODY:
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Statement by Tuck
Tinsley, III President on Fiscal Year 2000 Request for the American Printing
House for the Blind Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: It is a pleasure
for me to present the President's fiscal year 2000 budget request for the
American Printing House for the Blind (APH). In 1879, Congress passed the Act to
Promote the Education of the Blind, which mandates that APH, a nonprofit agency,
produce and distribute specially designed and adapted educational materials
necessary for precollege level blind students to have an equal opportunity to
participate in their educational programs. We believe the availability of these
materials is essential in the States'provision of an appropriate public
education to blind students and serves a Federal objective by supporting the
Federal mandate that all children receive a free appropriate public education,
as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA). The Act to Promote the Education of the Blind designates a Board of Ex
Officio Trustees, currently 156 professionals, which assures that funding for
the Act is used to produce and distribute specially designed educational
materials which are not otherwise available. The Ex Officio Trustees are
composed primarily of representatives of State departments of education,
superintendents of residential schools for the blind, and directors of
instructional materials resource centers. They provide ongoing State and local
input into the identification of the needs of students who are blind. Approval
of the Ex Officio Trustees is necessary for: a) research undertaken to identify
methods to address students'needs, b) development and subsequent field testing
of prototype educational aids/materials designed to address students'needs, C)
actual production of the aids/materials, and d) followup revisions of the
aids/materials as necessary. By approving the expenditure of appropriated funds
only for unique educational materials designed for blind students, the Ex
Officio Trustees ensure that this program does not duplicate other programs. The
total request for the Act to Promote the Education of the Blind for fiscal year
2000 is $8.973 million, an increase of $312,000, or 3.6% over the fiscal year
1999 appropriation. EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS The request for fiscal year 2000
includes $7.691 million to supply special educational materials to an estimated
58,205 legally blind students, an increase of $15 1,000, or 2% over the 1999
funding for educational materials. The number of students expected to be served
represents an increase of 780 or 1.4 percent over the number registered for
fiscal year 1999. The resulting per capita allotment for fiscal year 2000 would
be $132.14, an increase of $.84 or 0.6 percent from the 1999 appropriation
level. These funds are used to produce and distribute textbooks in braille and
large type, tangible teaching devices, educational tests, and special
instructional aids, tools, and materials adapted for students who are legally
blind. While the States are required to provide a free appropriate public
education to all eligible students with disabilities under IDEA, this
appropriation ensures that a minimum level of materials is made available to the
States on an annual basis to assist in the education of students who are blind.
ADVISORY SERVICES The 2000 request includes $179,000 for Advisory Services, a
$4,000, or 2.2% increase over the 1999 funding level. The appropriation for
Advisory Services supports a variety of activities necessary to administer the
Act. These activities include the annual census of blind students; meetings of
two advisory committees, the Educational Research Advisory Committee and the
Publications Advisory Committee; a required Annual Meeting of Ex Officio
Trustees; the production of catalogs of educational materials produced through
the Act; dissemination of monthly informational bulletins to Ex Officio
Trustees; facilitation of LISTSERVS for the two advisory committees; ad hoc
committees on issues affecting services to blind students; and field services
such as consultation, in-service training, and workshops. These Advisory
Services activities help to ensure that the research and development undertaken,
and the special materials produced and distributed, address current and future
needs of blind students. The activities also focus on ensuring that schools and
educational personnel are aware of the materials available and have the
knowledge necessary to use them. The request for Advisory Services also
includes: (1) $170,000 for continuation of the Expert Database Service
initiative begun in 1998; (2) $145,000 for continuation of an initiative to
create an Electronic File Repository begun in 1999; (3) $84,000 for continuation
of a Student-Use Initiative for the Louis database begun in 1998; and, (4)
$100,000 for a new initiative to update the Louis database and website. The
$170,000 requested for the continuation of the Expert Database Service begun in
1998 involves the development of an on- line database of facts, references, and
resources, and will provide a user friendly, accessible means of providing
technical assistance. It will provide a services directory and location center,
and a repository of information vital to those who are legally blind and to the
administrators of their programs. The request for $145,000 for fiscal year 2000
for continuation of the initiative to create an Electronic File Repository
supports the current national effort to expedite the provision of publishers'
files to producers of alternative media. This national effort has recently
gained momentum due to improvements in computer technology, braille translation
software, and the passing of State braille laws requiring publishers to provide
electronic files. Under this initiative, APH would create a repository of
electronic files that will meet the needs of both reproduction agencies and
print textbook publishers. APH would receive text-converted files from
publishers ready for alternative media production. The repository would also
house braille translated files from APH and other alternative media reproducers.
The request includes $84,000 to continue the Student-Use Initiative for the
Louis database begun in 1998. This initiative will allow students, who are the
ultimate consumers of the materials, to access the database. Through the use of
Louis, students will be empowered to identify, locate, and access their
educational materials as needed. Louis will become more navigable in speech
access mode. This initiative will continue to fund the design and presentation
of workshops for visually impaired students to teach them to independently use
and interact with the resources available through the APH Website and Louis
database. The 2000 request also includes $ 100,000 for updating the Louis
Database and the APH website. The website was created in 1906. In 1997, the site
was moved to the current server, and the Louis Database was added. During the
last three years, APH has added software (such as the Infoseek website searching
software) to facilitate use by speech access readers. Interactive user survey
forms will be added in the coming months. The Expert Database and the APH
Research Library Database currently use this server, and the Electronic File
Repository will also place demands on it. As APH's web-based services expand,
the demands on the server are greatly increasing. By 2000, this server will be
three years old, and will no longer be robust enough to meet consumers'needs. In
addition, the web server software that is currently in place is not compliant
with requirements for the year 2000, necessitating an upgrade. EDUCATIONAL AND
TECHNICAL RESEARCH The request for educational and technical research is
$500,000, $20,000 less than in 1999. Educational and technical research funds
are used by APH to conduct a program of comprehensive research directed toward
achieving its mission of providing visually impaired individuals with special
media, tools, and materials needed for education and life. The request for
Educational and Technical Research also includes three new initiatives: (1)
$44,000 for the development of Protocols for Assessment of Visual Functioning;
(2) $4,000 for the development of Primary Grade Storybooks Introducing Tactile
Graphics; and, (3) $56,000 for the development of Optical Aids Training Kits.
The Protocols for Assessment of Visual Functioning will provide a definitive
protocol to assess a student's visual functioning. In spite of the fact that
there are a few instruments around for the testing of visual functioning, one is
still needed which is simple for the practitioner to use and the subject to
take. This protocol will draw from the best of those already in existence and
will include parts, which are unavailable in current assessment instruments.
Results will be provided that can be clearly understood by the practitioner.
This is a definite need, at present. The initiative for Primary Grade Storybooks
Introducing Tactile Graphics will be to develop and adapt storybooks for
kindergarten and primary levels which feature braille text accompanied by simple
tactile displays introducing line tracking, use of tactile symbols, and symbol
keys. The difficulty individuals with significant visual loss experience in
learning to examine and interpret tactile graphic displays has long been
documented. This initiative will focus on the two major obstacles: the lack of
exposure to tactile displays and the lack of a sequence of instruction preparing
students for the use of tactile graphics. The initiative for the Optical Aids
Training Kits addresses children with low vision who need more than large print
to fully benefit from their educational programs. For example, a large print
textbook does not help the child who cannot see the teacher's notes on the
chalkboard or the science displays of other children at the science fair. Many
children with visual impairment would benefit from the use of optical aids such
as magnifiers and monoculars in their classrooms. This initiative will provide
kits of optical aids with accompanying curricula to allow students to experience
a variety of optical aids and learn the appropriate uses of each. A curricula
will be developed for teachers to use in instructing students in the optimal use
of aids for both near and distance vision. In 2000, APH's educational and
technical research efforts will focus on the following areas: (1) assessment of
visually impaired infants and preschoolers, (2) learning materials for infants
and young children who are visually impaired, (3) materials for visually
impaired students with additional handicapping conditions, (4) materials and
equipment to assist students with low vision, (5) materials for learning braille
and increasing braille literacy, (6) adapting educational measures for the
assessment of visually impaired students, (7) classroom learning materials in
math, science, and geography, (8) tactile graphic learning materials, (9) tools
to aid the transition from school to post-secondary educational or job settings,
(10) educational software for visually impaired students, (11) equipment and
instructional materials to enable or improve access to microcomputers, (12)
computer-based educational testing systems accessible to blind students, and
(13) materials for assessing braille reading skills. In providing needed
materials for a very low incidence population, the Act is structured and
administered to maximize Federal resources in the service of local needs: (1)
needs are identified at the local level, (2) experts in the field who serve as
project consultants and evaluators are identified, (3) research is conducted to
identify the most effective methods of addressing the needs, (4) prototype
aids/materials are developed with teaching materials from the field often
evaluated for potential usefulness, (5) extensive pilot and field testing are
conducted, and (6) product review and revision, if necessary, is conducted
periodically. The American Printing House for the Blind continues to be
committed to meeting the needs of students who are blind through the research,
development, and provision of unique educational materials necessary for them to
have an equal opportunity to benefit from their educational programs. The Act to
Promote the Education of the Blind is a program that works. The key is
continuous interaction with direct service providers at the State and local
levels, with all the obvious benefits of grass roots involvement. Mr. Chairman,
I will be glad to answer any questions concerning the fiscal year 2000 budget
request.
LOAD-DATE: March 13, 1999
