Background: In 1999 the Missouri Legislature passed House Bill 401 which required all public schools to give preference to vendors which provided educational materials in Braille and electronic formats approved by DESE.

A. Braille Materials

Vendors provided purchasing preference shall offer and deliver brailled products in Grade II braille. Materials shall include the full text, glossaries, indices and front matter comparable to their non-brailled counterparts. It is preferable that materials include all text-related graphics. Brailled title and verse pages must be preceded by regular print title and verse pages. Brailled products must be bound.

B. Electronic File Specifications

Vendors provided purchasing preference shall offer and deliver educational materials which comply with one or more of the following electronic specifications. Materials shall include the full text, glossaries, indices and front matter comparable to their non-brailled counterparts. It is preferable that materials include all text-related graphics.

File Formats:

American Standard Code for Information Exchange (ASCII) Format, including:

• Paragraph notations.

• Full text, including all text-related graphics, glossaries, indices and front matter.

• Well organized, logically developed files.

• Accurately labeled disks to identify the title and chapters or other grouping structures of the materials contained thereon.

• Sequentially numbered disks, if applicable.

International Committee for Accessible Document Design (ICADD) 22 Tag Set, including:

• Full text, including all text-related graphics, glossaries, indices and front matter.

• Each chapter, if applicable, formatted as a separate file.

• Accurately labeled disks to identify the title and chapters or other grouping structures of the materials contained thereon.

• Sequentially numbered disks, if applicable.

Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)—Full Implementation, including:

• Full text, including all text-related graphics, glossaries, indices and front matter.

• Each chapter, if applicable, formatted as a separate file.

• Accurately labeled disks to identify the title and chapters or other grouping structures of the materials contained thereon.

• Sequentially numbered disks, if applicable.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education may approve variations or alternatives to these formats.

Operating Systems:

All electronic materials must be offered in the most recent version of Microsoft Windows.

Storage Media (Disks/Cartridges) and Labeling:

All electronic materials shall be offered on a 3.5 inch diskette, double-sided/high density or 5.25 syquest cartridge with 44, 88 or 200 megabyte capacity. Disk/cartridge labeling shall include sequence number, book title, file name, name of publisher and name of typesetting company.

Electronic Disk/Cartridge Contents:

Each disk/cartridge shall contain a separate file which lists the structure of the primary files contained on the disk/cartridge and all special instructions for use of the primary files. This file shall always be named "DISKLIST.TXT". All primary files on each disk/cartridge shall contain a title page, verse page, list of consultants and reviewers (if applicable), table of contents, all chapters of the source document, all appendices, all text-related graphics, glossaries and all indices. Each text file shall contain marginal notes, footnotes, captions and other special items and their placement within the material to which they refer should be consistent within and among each text file.

Vendors shall produce electronic files that as closely as possible duplicate the adopted printed version of the educational materials. In cases where significant variation exists between the adopted printed version and the electronic version, the vendor shall be responsible for providing along with the electronic version one set of marked sheets with all corrections and changes not included in the corresponding electronic files.

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1.  These specifications do not include those for audio-described instructional materials. However, it is expected that in the near future such will be developed and appended.

2.  "All text-related graphics" refers to graphics which support the text of the educational material. Such graphics are sometimes placed in files different from those containing the text of the material associated with the graphics. It is preferable that text be provided which describes the graphics included with the materials, whether in the file containing the full text of the book/document or in the file containing the graphics.

3.  Files of educational materials which use symbols and formulas, such as those for science and math, are expected to contain such symbols and formulas when technology is available for the translation of such.

4.  The emphasis of the statute directing the development of these guidelines is on students. As such, teacher editions and other materials specifically used in designing instruction to be delivered are not affected by these guidelines.