Senior Research Scientist
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Short Biography - Education - Current Projects - Selected Publications
Short Biography
Richard Jackson assists in the development of CAST's universally designed technology to meet the needs of individuals with visual disabilities. An Associate Professor and a Director of Projects in Low-Incidence Disabilities at Boston College since 1989, Dr. Jackson is himself visually impaired. He has held major federal grants of national significance in training teachers of the blind and multiply disabled.
From 1999-2004, Dr. Jackson served as Director of Practice for the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum (NCAC) at CAST and acted as CAST's liaison to Boston College, an NCAC partner. Currently, he is assisting with the work of the NIMAS/AIM Consortium project. He is also working on CAST’s initiative to develop digitally supported approaches to composition. Additionally, he contributes his expertise in standards-based reform to CAST’s federal project for the creation and evaluation of a technology-based system that blends Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) and Universal Design for Learning in digital learning environments to improve reading comprehension instruction for students with disabilities.
Dr. Jackson brings to his work at CAST almost thirty years of experience as a teacher, a project director, a researcher, and an advocate in the field of education and visual disabilities. He has conducted research for Apple Computer and for the National Eye Institute, and is the founder of the Association of Massachusetts Educators of Students with Vision Impairments. Currently, he serves on the advisory boards for the National Center on Supported eText, the Technology Assisted Reading Assessment (TARA) project, the National Center on Student Progress Monitoring and the National Center on Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd).
Ed.D., Special Education,Columbia University, New York, New York.
Ed.M., Psychology & Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
B.A., Psychology, American International College, Springfield, MA
NIMAS Development Center – OSEP funded grant to improve the original National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard by identifying new research and technological advances relevant to the Standard. The Center also explores existing and new distribution models for the provision of accessible materials to students with disabilities.
AIM Consortium – OSEP funded grant to work intensively with 15 states on National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) implementation. The goal of the consortium is to put into place effective systems to ensure that students with print disabilities receive accessible materials as mandated by IDEA.
Project Monitor – OSEP funded project to create and evaluate the application of progress monitoring in an interactive digital reading environment. The project will determine whether the addition of progress monitoring in this setting leads to better reading instruction for all students, especially those with disabilities.
Jackson, R.M. (2007). The Need for Progress Monitoring to Support the Participation of Students with Visual Disabilities in Standards-Based Reform.Washington, D.C.: National Center on Student Progress Monitoring, American Institutes of Research.
Hall, T., Jackson, R., Hitchcock, C., Gordon, D., & Rose, D.H. (2006). Issue brief: Modifying curriculum for students with disabilities and the alternative promise of universal design for learning. Wakefield, MA: Center for Applied Special Technology, Inc.
Jackson, R.M. (2005). Curriculum access for students with low incidence disabilities: The promise of universal design for learning. Wakefield, MA: Center for Applied Special Technology.
Hitchcock, C.G., Meyer, A., Rose, D., & Jackson, R. (2005). Equal access, participation, and progress in the general education curriculum. In D.H. Rose, A. Meyer and C. Hitchcock, (Eds). The universally designed classroom: Accessible curriculum and digital technologies (pp. 37-68). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Jackson, R. & Harper, K. (2005). Teacher planning for accessibility: The universal design of learning environments. In D.H. Rose, A. Meyer & C. Hitchcock, (Eds). The universally designed classroom: Accessible curriculum and digital technologies (pp. 101-124). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Jackson, R., Harper, K., & Jackson, J. (2005). Teaching for accessibility: Effective practices, classroom barriers. In D.H. Rose, A. Meyer & C. Hitchcock, (Eds). The universally designed classroom: Accessible curriculum and digital technologies (pp. 125-148). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Jackson, R.M.. (2004). Technologies Supporting Access to the General Curriculum for Students with Disabilities. Wakefield, MA: Center for Applied Special Technology.
Hitchcock, C.G., Meyer, A., Rose, D. & Jackson, R. (2002). Providing new access to the general curriculum: Universal design for learning. Teaching Exceptional Children, 35(2), 8-17.
