Jacob, a blind 10th grader, felt isolated when he enrolled in AP classes.
His motivation to learn was thwarted by a three-week lesson plan in which his teacher relied on handouts and a website that was difficult for him to navigate. He felt frustrated and isolated: “I feel like I’m stranded on this desert island because the site doesn’t work.” [with my screen reader]Jacob later said: He told the researchersHe added, “You can’t change the entire lesson plan, especially once it’s been distributed.”
Advocates say many students with disabilities, like Jacob, are forced to do extra work: They must learn just like everyone else, but they also have to deal with inaccessible assignments and other digital obstacles. This is especially true in K-12 classrooms, where instructional materials can be difficult to interpret, they say. Preprint Many of these students have to find their own ways to access basic documents outside of school, argues one research article (which cites Jacob’s story, but the author declined to provide details to EdSurge, citing ethical concerns).
But there are movements trying to change that.
In April, the U.S. Department of Justice Final Rule It’s about web and mobile accessibility. The law amends Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires state and local governments to provide equal opportunities (including services at public schools, community colleges, public universities, etc.) to people with disabilities. The amendments are intended to expand access by specifying certain technology standards that government agencies must follow.
This latest update was significant, according to some observers, because it set a deadline for when schools’ digital learning materials should be accessible and specified standards for how to measure whether they are accessible.
Ticking clock
The new guidelines state that digital text, images, audio, video, documents, controls and animations must be treated as part of a set of “Success Criteria. “Per report According to Community College Daily, these include:
- “Content should not be limited to a single viewing orientation, such as portrait or landscape.
- Captions are provided for all live audio content in synchronized media.
- Captions are provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media.
- Audio description is provided for all pre-recorded video content within synchronized media.
- Any non-text content must have an equivalent text alternative.
- The colors used are as bold as they are visible on screen.”
Glenda Sims, chief information accessibility officer at DeQ Systems, a company that specializes in digital accessibility, said the law is historic because it gives public agencies clear guidance on how to measure digital accessibility. It’s been known for yearsBut there are now “standards” in the law to measure whether those standards are being met, she added.
Some disability advocates are grateful that the Justice Department is taking the burden off students. Previously, students, and sometimes teachers, had to work hard to make digital content accessible, said Natalie Shaheen, an assistant professor of blind education at Illinois State University’s College of Education.
But the rule also makes educational institutions responsible for the websites and materials they use to teach, so now schools have to worry about purchasing materials that don’t have accessibility in mind, says Elizabeth Barker, senior technical assistant and project director at CAST, the nonprofit that created the Universal Design for Learning Framework.
While not new, the obligations set out in this regulation are urgent.
According to population sizeschool districts, state and local governments will have to ensure that their web content and mobile apps are Level AA compliant by April 2026 or April 2027. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
That means they have to act fast.
“Most public universities have had a two-year compliance deadline that began several months ago,” Jarrett Cummings, senior adviser for policy and government relations at Educause, said in an email to EdSurge. It’s important to “work quickly with corporate providers to find ways to meet these standards in time,” Cummings wrote.
This also applies to K-12: Districts should scrutinize accessibility as part of their procurement process, says CAST’s Barker.
For private education technology companies, the situation is a bit more complicated. Experts say vendors are “indirectly responsible” for these rules. The burden of the rules falls on the public institutions themselves (K-12 schools, universities, and colleges), but vendors also need to comply if they want to continue doing business with these institutions, Deque Systems’ Sims said.
For now, it appears families can’t sue vendors directly, she says. But that doesn’t mean they can ignore it. In fact, school contracts mean vendors could face “legal pressure” if they don’t follow the guidelines, she adds. Ultimately, they could end up facing lawsuits from families. For example, in California, where people Sue the company directly The website is not accessible. Sims said he is keeping a close eye on the bill.
“Business CaseSims says that considering accessibility during the design phase of a product is “key to success in education.” Companies that can prove their accessibility will benefit if schools realize they are responsible for the digital accessibility of the companies they buy from. Moreover, Sims argues that the cost of fixing accessibility issues is significantly higher after a product is released than during the design phase, emphasizing the need to carefully consider these issues at an early stage. Cost Can be climbed immediatelyShe especially noted in some reviews that Multiple accessibility issues detected Across the entire homepage.
On the Hook
Accessibility has become a major focus area for education policy. The U.S. Department of Education’s revised National Educational Technology Plan identifies “access” as one of three major technology gaps (access, design, and use) that may prevent students from fully engaging in their education. At the time of its release, experts said they hoped the revision would move the national discussion beyond mere access to educational technology to how effective technology is for learning. However, the Federal Communications Commission’s “Affordable Connectivity ProgramThis was key to connecting many homes to the Internet.
Will all this translate into greater access for students with disabilities? Advocates are optimistic, especially in the broader context of pro-accessibility legislation.
“This is certainly the highest number we’ve ever seen,” said Shaheen of Illinois State University, and there may be more to come: The Department of Education plans to revise its IT accessibility regulations. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation ActThe changes provide a template, according to Educace’s Cummings, who added that the rules also apply to private educational institutions, “so private universities should probably think about getting ahead of the accessibility requirements that are imposed on them.”
For Shaheen, removing barriers for students with disabilities really comes down to schools dabbling in the obvious. Schools have under-utilized what they know about building digital interfaces that are accessible to students with disabilities, she says. But the most common barriers for K-12 students with disabilities are the easiest to solve, she adds. For example, she adds: “One common hurdle is the lack of ‘alt text’ for images.” This is an alternative display of an image for people who are blind or have low vision, and it can usually be added without any special programming expertise, she says, because many content creation platforms already have the functionality as a built-in feature. So, anyone creating content can simply right-click on an image and add alt text.
Still, Shaheen argues that to truly support students with disabilities, schools need to be more “proactive,” which she says involves dedicating resources and personnel to improving accessibility.
But resources may be hard to come by, as the K-12 and college sectors are under immense pressure right now, facing a host of tough challenges including poor student performance due to the pandemic, declining enrollment numbers, and the end of ESSER funding.
Another problem: K-12 schools may not even know they have responsibilities to vendors unless they comply with the law, CAST’s Barker said. The law hasn’t gotten enough attention, she added.
Still, for activists like Shaheen, there are many teachers and families across the country who are committed to improving accessibility, and formal rules give them more power, she says. “Social justice can be hard to achieve, but it’s really amazing what some teachers can accomplish.”