Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Large District Websites Have 'Extensive Accessibility Issues'

Large District Websites Have 'Extensive Accessibility Issues'

The Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) recently shared the results of automated tests it ran to check the accessibility of a handful of school websites and found that those tested had "extensive" issues related to accessibility.

In a blog post about the tests, BoIA pointed to the fact that about 13 percent of all public school students receive special education services and nearly 500 investigations have started by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights to look into the accessibility of school, district and college websites.

To see how school sites measure up against accessibility standards, the company used its automated website scanning tool to evaluate eight different district websites. The company chose districts with more than 150,000 students and noted that, "Although automation can only detect up to 30 percent of actual accessibility issues, it does provide directional insight into the overall accessibility of a given website," according to the blog post. "Using this method, BoIA concluded that these sites do in fact, have extensive accessibility issues."

The districts tested, with links to their results, include:

Los Angeles Unified School District returned the best results, according to BoIA, but the district's site still failed on 10 out of 25 checkpoints, according to the results. In their favor, they did have an accessibility statement on their homepage and contact information for a dedicated Americans with Disabilities Act compliance manager.

Common problems among the sites scanned were the inability to resize text and issues with keyboard-only site navigation.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • digital graph

    Building Genuinely Data-Informed School Districts

    Schools today generate enormous amounts of data. The difference between collecting it and using it effectively often comes down to quality, access, and context.

  • Neon blue security locks with a single red highlight

    With AI, Cybersecurity Focus Shifts from Finding Flaws to Fixing Them

    For decades, one of cybersecurity's biggest challenges has been finding vulnerabilities before attackers do. A growing number of security professionals now say artificial intelligence is changing that equation, shifting the focus from discovering flaws to fixing them quickly enough to prevent exploitation.

  • Top View Shot in Elementary School Computer Science Classroom

    Education's Top 5 Technology Priorities and the Challenges Standing in the Way

    Cybersecurity ranks as the No. 1 priority for education technology leaders in the United States, according to the latest State of Ed Tech report from CoSN, yet insufficient cybersecurity staffing and the lack of a dedicated budget are key barriers.

  • Engineering team implements digital guardrails on AI

    3 Starting Points for Integrating AI Guardrails in K-12 Districts

    As education leaders start to craft an AI policy that is both practical and flexible enough to evolve with this fast-changing technology, there is at least one principle that should be foundational: AI should serve to augment human critical thinking and creativity but never replace human interaction and decision-making.