Disability Inclusive Education Toolkit

National Education Policy Dialogue
Serve as lead advocates for disability inclusion by making the case for disability inclusive education, using evidence-based arguments that link to the mission’s Development Objectives. 

CDCS

1. Describe the most important development challenges and opportunities facing the partner country, based on the best available evidence, and identify those areas that the mission proposes to address.
2.  Determine the conceptual underpinnings that will be used to design projects and activities.

Conducting Analysis and Assessment

1. Determine if there is sufficient contextual information about the state of disability inclusive education in the country and identify whether additional information or analyses is needed as well as how these will be obtained.
2. Measure progress toward achieving inclusion for learners with disabilities. 

Resources

• How-To Note Disability Inclusive Education: Annex B may be used to guide USAID staff and partners in identifying opportunities to promote education programs, projects and activities that are inclusive of students with disabilities beginning at the CDCS stage.
• Disability Inclusive Development 102: Mainstreaming Disability Across the Program Cycle and Beyond Course (available to USAID staff)
• Staff in USAID's Center for Education, as well as those from the regional bureaus and other missions, can assist with helping to ensure that disability is considered and integrated into analysis starting at the CDCS stage, either by identifying tools or providing technical expertise if more detailed analysis of the country context is needed. Contact Josh Josa or Leah Maxson for assistance.
• USAID has no standard approach to this analysis, but the Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Initiative Assessment on Education of Students with Disabilities in Jordan Final Report can be used as a guide. 

Design

1. Engage local actors. Consult DPOs beginning at the conceptual stages of project or activity design. Communicate inclusive opportunities; ensure that persons with disabilities are aware of opportunities in program activities.
2. Conduct analyses. Include disability in required analyses. Conduct non-mandatory disability-focused analyses as needed. 
3. Budget for inclusion. Ensure that budget planning makes provision for addressing disability inclusion.
4. Write activity descriptions. Be explicit about including children/youth with disabilities.
5. ADS 302 (reference 302.3.5.14 Supporting USAID’s Disability Policy in Contracts) requires AIDAR clause 752.222-70 USAID Disability Policy be included in all requests for proposals (RFPs) and resulting contracts. In addition, ADS 303maa and ADS 303mab require that the provision of USAID Disability Policy - Assistance be included in all Requests for Applications (RFAs) and resulting awards. These two clauses/provisions require that contractors and recipients: 
   • Do not discriminate against persons with disabilities with implementing USAID programs.
   • Demonstrate a comprehensive and consistent approach for including men, women and children with disabilities in the Program Cycle.

Solicitation Language

• USAID education staff are strongly encouraged to include disability in illustrative activities and indicators at the request for proposal (RFP) or notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) stage.
• Many missions are requiring partners to develop disability inclusion work plans after contract start-up and to detail what will be accomplished related to the inclusion of individuals with disabilities. All such plans must include data collection on children with disabilities to ensure that the proposed implementation approach is data-driven. The use of Washington Group protocols and analysis approach is highly recommended to improve consistency and comparability of data across USAID programming globally.
   

Resources

• Incorporating Disability in Project Design and Management: LAC Inclusive Education Training (available to USAID staff)
• Universal Design for Learning to Help All Children Read
• Washington Group Protocols
• How To Note: Collecting Data on Disability in Education Programming

Management and Evaluation

1. Review agreement documents. Work with the contracts/agreement officer to ensure that disability makes it from solicitation to signed award. 
2. Plan for an award signing kick-off meeting. USAID and partners have the opportunity to jointly review disability inclusion requirements to ensure clarity and shared understanding by all parties.
3. Conduct site visits and ask about disability inclusion. How are children and youth with disabilities benefiting from project activities? How could this project better support children and youth with disabilities? How are DPOs being involved in project implementation and monitoring?
4. Prepare for external evaluations. Require disability-targeted questions. USAID staff can refer the Education page on ProgramNet for examples of evaluation statements of work that were successful in incorporating consideration of disability inclusion.
5. Recommend that someone with disability expertise be on the evaluation team.
6. Celebrate success. Highlight disability inclusion in public communications, research, and scale-up.

Budgeting

1. If applicable, use basic education or higher education (BE/HE) earmarked funds to fund disability-specific and disability-inclusive programming that is in line with USAID focus areas.
2. Apply the State Department’s Foreign Assistance Standardized Program Structure and Definitions to all resources.
3. Plan for the costs of reasonable accommodations in program and organizational budgets. At least 3-5 percent of program costs and 1-3 percent of administrative costs should be budgeted for, though the numbers will likely be higher for scaled interventions for inclusive education to systematically satisfy programmatic needs.

Communicating

1. Advertise the availability of reasonable accommodation in program activities so that people with disabilities know they are welcome to participate.
2. Create accessible materials that comply with Section 508 standards to ensure that people with disabilities can access the information you are producing.

Resources

• Incorporating Disability in Project Design and Management: LAC Inclusive Education Training (available to USAID staff)
• For reasonable accommodation for in-person events or advertising an event, USAID encourages education staff to consult with the mission and use operating expenses to fund these requests.
• Specific questions about the use of basic education and higher education funding in support of disability should be directed to USAID Center for Education.
• Making Inclusive Development a Reality
• Education staff can consult with USAID Center for Education personnel for guidance and assistance in calculating these budgets allotments. Contact Josh Josa or Leah Maxson for assistance.
• How-To Note Disability Inclusive Education: See Annex D for illustrative assistive technologies to accommodate students with disabilities
• For assistance in creating Section 508 compliant materials, USAID has a centrally managed resource reachable at section508@usaid.gov.
• USAID El Salvador Improving Access to Employment Program (2009 – 2013): The program developed and implemented solutions to the challenge of finding jobs for persons with disabilities that included active outreach interventions.

Standard Foreign Assistance Indicators
Standard foreign assistance indicators, or “standard indicators,” measure the outputs and outcomes of the U.S. Government's programs, projects and activities. The following standard indicators are relevant to disability inclusive education programs: 

• ES.1-3: Number of learners in primary schools and/or equivalent non-school based settings reached with USG education assistance
• ES1-3g: Number of learners with disabilities
• ES.1-4: Number of learners in secondary schools or equivalent non-school based settings reached with USG education assistance
• ES.1-4g: Number of learners with disabilities
• ES.1-8: Number of primary or secondary school educators who complete professional development activities on teaching students with special educational needs with USG assistance
• ES.4-1: Number of vulnerable persons benefiting from USG-supported social services
• ES.4-1e: Persons with disabilities
• ES.4-2: Number of service providers trained who serve vulnerable persons
• ES.4-3: Number of USG assisted organizations and/or service delivery systems that serve vulnerable persons strengthened
• ES.4-3c: Disabled People’s Organization (DPO)
• ES.4-3d: Non-governmental organization (non-DPO)

Custom Indicators
Not all of the standardized indicators require reporting disaggregated data by disability. USAID missions can choose to disaggregate any education-specific indicators that are not currently disaggregated by disability. USAID education staff can mandate that indicators be disaggregated by disability in solicitation documents for new activities, and when relevant, require that offerors propose custom indicators that capture efforts to address disability inclusive education as part of their proposals/bids. USAID recommends all missions and implementing partners use the Washington Group approach to collecting and analyzing data on disability.

Resources

• Monitoring and Evaluation Templates (available to USAID staff on ProgramNet)
• Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) Website
• How To Note: Collecting Data on Disability in Education Programming

1. Ensure careful monitoring and evaluation of efforts to reach children with disabilities and improve their education outcomes through USAID programming, USAID education staff and partners can contribute to the evidence base for disability inclusive education.
2. Write solicitations and scoring criteria to evaluate the extent to which activities have a concrete plan for how learning around disability will take place.
3. Facilitate learning at the country level. This may entail plans for workshops, seminars or public fora that bring local stakeholders together to discuss an activity’s performance, results or the need for change and adaptation. Lead players in these types of interventions are usually Ministries of Education at national and/or more local levels, partners, local NGOs (and DPOs), local governments, schools, communities, interested private sector representatives and other donors.
4. Facilitate learning within the activity. This may entail the creation of a plan for ongoing research or study of an approach about which more understanding is desired. Learning is enriched within USAID and the larger global community by ensuring that research, studies, learning materials and other tools that are being developed are shared and made widely available on websites such as USAID’s Development Experience Clearinghouse.

Resources

• The Resource Library on this site posts new studies, evaluations, and project and activity documents on an ongoing basis that are learning tools for those in the field.
• Education Internal Newsletter (available to USAID staff)
• Disability Inclusive Education Landscape Mapping Review (available to USAID staff)
• The Center for Education has technical staff dedicated to promotion of knowledge management and learning that can assist USAID education staff and partners. Contact Heather Risley for assistance.

Accessibility Guidelines for Planning Events

• The 1973 Rehabilitation Act requires programs or activities that receive federal funding or are conducted by the federal government to be inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates reasonable accommodation and accessible environments. 

USAID defines:

Accessible as a "site, facility, work environment, service or program that is easy to approach; enter; operate; participate in; and/or use safely, independently and with dignity by persons with disabilities".

Reasonable accommodation as "modifications or adjustments that enable a person with a disability to participate on an equitable basis as others. Examples include providing sign language interpreters; providing materials in alternative formats like Braille, large print or electronically; or providing accessible transportation".

Accessibility Considerations (Please see the Disability Accessible Events Checklist below for more information)

Pre-Event Communications 

• Invitations indicate details regarding accessibility accommodations 

Arrival

• Location is accessible by major public transit
• Stairs have handrails
• A ramp is available where exterior steps lead to entrance

Event Location

• On ground floor and/or accessible by functioning elevator
• Interior walkways are at least 36 inches wide
• Sufficient space to maneuver around tables and chairs
• Restrooms are located nearby and have at least one accessible stall
• Good lighting and acoustics
• Clear line of sight to presenters from a seated position

Event Communications

• Oral communications are translated into sign language and/or captioned
• Preferential seating available for participants who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
• Written/printed information provided in large font with contrasting colors

Resources

• Disability Accessible Events Checklist
• Disability Communications Tips
• Disability Inclusive Development 101: An Introductory Course for USAID Staff and Development Partners (course with captions only | course with sign language interpretation)
• Disability Inclusive Development 102: Mainstreaming Disability Across the Program Cycle and Beyond
• ADS Chapter 111: Procedures for Providing Reasonable Accommodation for Individuals with Disabilities
• General Information on Reasonable Accommodation