CAST’s Center on Inclusive Technology and Education Systems (CITES) selected the three states as its national cohort of state partners from 2024 to 2028. The goal is to implement the CITES Framework, a structured plan to promote inclusive technology in education, at districts throughout the states.
To develop the framework, CITES followed guidance from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and UNESCO.
The DOE’s 2024 National Educational Technology Plan identified a gap between the promise of transformation through educational technology and the reality of its implementation. Across the country, students’ access to devices, connectivity and digital content varies widely, as do professional development opportunities for teachers in this arena. The DOE concluded a minority of students are meaningfully engaging in creative tasks with technology at school.
Additionally, UNESCO found students with disabilities can benefit greatly from digital tools that present material in unique and personalized ways. However, students with disabilities are disproportionately excluded from learning because these technologies do not accommodate sign language interpretation, closed captioning, Braille and other needs.
From 2020 to 2023, CITES collaborated directly with districts to test different approaches to inclusive tech and get feedback on how to best bridge this divide.
The resulting framework involves identifying systemic barriers to accessibility and collaborating with educators, technology professionals and administrators to address them. Schools have used the framework to incorporate inclusive technology in family engagement, infrastructure, leadership and teaching.
This collaboration with states will help scale the project up. Each state will work closely with at least two local education agencies (LEAs) to implement the framework.
“The CITES intense technical assistance will provide the LEAs from the state cohorts with tools to develop streamlined inclusive technology practices, breaking through the educational silos that often hamper the delivery of those services to students with disabilities,” Lindsay Jones, CAST CEO, said in a public statement.
