NCDAE/WebAIM Web Accessibility in Accreditation Initiative

Introduction

The National Center on Disability and Access to Education - external link (NCDAE) and WebAIM have received funding to explore web accessibility in the education accreditation arena. The project is a 3-year effort supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education - external link (FIPSE) under their highly competitive Comprehensive Program - external link. The lead partners in this project consortium are NCDAE and WebAIM at Utah State University, with additional consortium representatives from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education - external link, the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications - external link (WCET), Western Heights School District - external link in Oklahoma City, and AdvancED - external link.

Initiative Goals

Increased web accessibility in education is the goal of this initiative. This will be accomplished in two ways:

1. Creating materials that will be useful for education entities who wish to engage in self-study on the accessibility of their institution’s web content.
2. Working with regional accrediting bodies to explore the possibility that they might choose to adopt these materials in their work with education.

Accreditation is a mechanism for education entities (K-20) to demonstrate that they have met acceptable standards for quality. Education entities work hard to achieve accreditation, as failure to do so could impact both the reputation and functioning of the institution. An institution's accreditation can impact students' ability to receive federal student loans, transfer credits to other institutions, or receive a degree that is recognized by professional organizations. Typically, institutions engage in a process of self-study, or reflection, on the standards and guidelines given to them by an accrediting body. An institutional report on these standards, along with a site visit from a team comprised of peers and accreditors, is the basis for a determination of accreditation.

This project will provide institutions and accrediting bodies resources that could potentially be used in the consideration of web accessibility in the accreditation body. If accreditation standards were to require even minimal levels of accessibility to student, faculty, and staff resources that are web based, more people in the education arena would have access to the materials. NCDAE and WebAIM will provide the necessary resources so that this may become a reality. While this project hopes to influence accrediting bodies to consider accessibility, it is ultimately up to these bodies as to whether this will become a new part of their accreditation processes.

Deliverables

A set of 6 deliverables will be developed:

1. A whitepaper to outline the rationale for, and research to support, accessibility in accreditation standards.
2. A document of institutional “indicators” of accessibility. These would provide a comprehensive outline and description of required, recommended, and best practices in electronic accessibility in education.
3. An institutional self-study packet to offer accessibility checklists and a process for institutional assessment.
4. A process for conducting an accessibility audit. This would aid institutions or accrediting bodies as they measure continuous improvement.
5. Accessibility support materials and resources for institutional or accreditation site-teams.
6. A document for site-teams to recommend how they might capture and properly report on institutional accessibility findings.

We are seeking education institutions that are interested in field-testing the project materials and providing feedback. Any institution that participates will receive a complementary set of the final materials. If interested, please contact Cyndi Rowland.

To find out more about this initiative or to read the full project overview, please visit http://ncdae.org/activities/fipse/overview.cfm - external link.