Education Officials Prioritizing Accessibility Through Compliance Reviews

In an effort to ensure students with disabilities are able to access all school services, the U.S. Department of Education will be launching 100 compliance reviews focused on digital accessibility. 

These reviews are targeted at K-12 schools and districts, postsecondary institutions, state departments of education, libraries, and vocational rehabilitation services.

Using Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, officials will be able to determine whether any platforms used to communicate with disabled students and their families are fully accessible.

The implementation of these reviews was officially announced at the Education Department’s first virtual summit, which was geared toward helping schools better support students with disabilities and mental health concerns. 

Along with these accessibility compliance reviews, a series of how-to videos has been created to help educators understand their role in digital accessibility. These videos also clearly highlight the technological barriers that parents and disabled students encounter daily in the education space.  

Since its inception 3 years ago, the National Digital Accessibility Team of the Office of Civil Rights has resolved well over 1,000 cases related to web accessibility. It’s this team that’s helped develop this video series in conjunction with ADA National Network.