CAST, QIAT Leadership Team Agree to Publish "Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology"

Date:
Tuesday, May 12, 2015

CAST Professional Publishing announced today that it has signed an agreement with the QIAT Leadership Team to publish Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology: A Comprehensive Guide to AT Services later this year.

The book will provide the education field with a valuable and credible resource for evaluating, choosing, deploying, and supporting assistive technology services in K-12 and postsecondary educational environments.  Audiences for this book include:

• Assistive technology service providers as they evaluate and constantly improve their services;
• Consumers of assistive technology services, including students and parents, as they seek adequate assistive technology services which meet their needs;
• Universities and professional developers as they conduct research and deliver programs that promote the development of the competencies needed to provide quality assistive technology services; and
• Policy makers as they attempt to develop judicious and equitable policies related to assistive technology services.

The development of the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology  (QIAT) began in the summer of 1998 when a number of assistive technology (AT) service providers gathered to share common concerns about the complexity of issues and processes related to AT training and service delivery.

In subsequent years, the QIAT group conducted online sessions, face-to-face summits, and other conference meetings with more than 4,000 AT providers from 17 countries and across the United States who provided insights and suggestions representing a variety of perspectives ranging from students and families to school staff and policy makers. These conversations (including more than 2,000 written responses) shaped and refined the Quality Indicators.

“We are so excited to partner with the QIAT Leadership Team in bringing this essential resource to the education field,” says David Gordon, Director of CAST Professional Publishing. “CAST and QIAT share a common mission to improve learning opportunities and lower barriers for all students. By publishing Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology: A Comprehensive Guide to AT Services, we will amplify and share the important work of the QIAT network--to the benefit of all.”

On behalf of the QIAT Leadership Team, Joan Breslin-Larson, of the Minnesota Department of Education, says, “We are thrilled to be in the final stages of this collective work with hundreds of educators, administrators and families over the past 17 years.” In a recent meeting in Minnesota, the team members expressed that they look forward with great pleasure to the opportunity to work with CAST Professional Publishing.

The QIAT Leadership Team includes 11 education professionals with extensive  AT experience. They are (in alphabetical order): Gayl Bowser, Joan Breslin-Larson, Diana Foster Carl, Kelly Fonner, Terry Foss, Jane Korsten, Kathy Lalk, Scott Marfilius, Susan McCloskey, Penny Reed, and Joy Smiley Zabala. For more information, see http://qiat.org/about-us-bios.html.

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About CAST Professional Publishing
CAST Professional Publishing aims to create and distribute exceptional media products that inspire and inform educational research, instructional practice, and policy making for the betterment of all. CAST—Until Learning Has No Limits™

About QIAT
The QIAT Community is a nationwide grassroots group that includes hundreds of individuals who provide input into the ongoing process of identifying, disseminating, and implementing a set of widely-applicable Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology (QIAT) services in school settings.