From the moment the school bell rings in the morning to the time students head home, K-12 public schools are sharing a near-constant flow of materials and information online across websites and learning management systems (LMS): lesson content, cafeteria menus, school calendars, field trip schedules, forms, school board agendas and more.
In addition to managing this constantly changing data stream, schools also need to make it accessible for people with disabilities. The DOJ web and mobile accessibility rule under Title II of the ADA, which applies to state and local government entities, also applies to public schools and their websites, portals, documents, forms and mobile apps. For school districts, the stakes go beyond compliance. Barriers to school information can affect student learning, family engagement, transparency and community trust.
The accessibility challenge is particularly complex for school districts because content creation happens everywhere. Teachers create instructional materials, administrative staff publish forms and policies, communications teams update websites, board staff publish meeting materials and outside vendors provide learning management systems, parent portals and other digital tools. Even older documents, while eligible for exemption under the archived content provision, make general counsels nervous and still have to be remediated upon request.
Additionally, many school districts still rely heavily on PDFs, which can create barriers for people using screen readers and other assistive technologies when those documents aren’t created with accessibility in mind.
Districts need more than a one-time website fix or document remediation project. They need a sustainable approach that makes accessibility part of how information is created, reviewed and published.
Web Accessibility Doesn’t Stop at the School Website
One of the first things districts are learning is that making school webpages accessible doesn’t necessarily mean users have an accessible online experience. With teachers and staff simultaneously creating new content on other digital platforms, a school website can link to thousands of documents. PDFs, tables and other documents can present specific accessibility barriers, lacking the formatting that assistive technologies, like screen readers, need to read them.
Consider a grading rubric. A sighted parent or student can scan a table and quickly understand which requirements correspond to a particular score. But if that table hasn’t been structured correctly, a parent or student using a screen reader may hear all the same words without understanding how the criteria and scores relate to one another.
This can affect whether a student understands an assignment and has the same opportunity to participate in learning.
Build Accessibility into the Way the School District Works
Districts are learning that accessibility cannot depend entirely on fixing documents after they have been published. When teachers, administrators, communications teams, board staff and others are continually creating new content, manual remediation alone can quickly become a game of catch-up.
To embed accessibility into everyday processes, start with an inventory. You need to understand what you have, including websites, document libraries, learning platforms, and other digital resources, to identify accessibility gaps. That doesn’t necessarily mean fixing every file a district has ever published. You can prioritize the information students and families depend on most.
From there, look upstream. The goal should be to reduce the number of accessibility problems being created in the first place, rather than continually repairing them after publication. That means establishing clear publishing practices, training the people who regularly create content and making accessibility part of everyday workflows.
Accessibility should also be part of how districts evaluate and purchase technology, including learning management systems, parent portals, document tools and more. During the RFP and contracting process, districts should ask vendors about their ADA web accessibility strategy and testing process, including a copy of their VPAT/ACR and how they handle the DOJ rule’s WCAG 2.1 AA standard.
Make the Accessible Path the Easy Path
Modern technologies are giving school districts new ways to manage accessibility compliance. Rather than remediating every PDF manually, school districts can use document accessibility tools to identify and flag issues and automatically provide accessible versions as, or shortly after, documents are published. Some leading solutions even have live humans on demand to review and support parents and teachers with accessibility questions at no cost 24/7.
Districts may also want to reconsider whether a PDF is the best format for every type of information. Web-native formats such as HTML can make information easier to navigate on mobile devices and with assistive technologies.
The goal is to make accessible practices easier for those sharing information every day. Teachers should be able to focus on teaching, not becoming PDF-remediation specialists.
The best accessibility strategy is one that eventually stops feeling like an accessibility strategy at all. It simply becomes how the district creates and shares information. The goal: creating educational systems where all students, families, and community members of all abilities can access the information they need to learn and thrive.
Mac Clemmens is the CivicPlus® Senior Vice President of Product Strategy and Innovation and the Co-Founder of DocAccess and Streamline. He is a proud advocate of website accessibility and local government, having presented on the subject at conferences nationwide. He received the prestigious “Vision Award” from Disability Rights California — the nation’s largest disability rights advocacy organization — in recognition of his commitment to creating accessible website experiences for all users. Mac is passionate about helping local governments tell their stories and engage with their communities, ensuring that the fear of ADA noncompliance doesn’t stand in the way.
Photo Credit: Kampus Production, Pexels
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