FAQs: Website Accessibility and eChalk GUIDE

+ Why should schools worry about website accessibility?

More than one in five people in the U.S. has some form of disability. Auditory, visual, cognitive, or dexterity differences can make it challenging to access information online. Schools have a responsibility to ensure that everyone in their learning community has equal access to information published on their websites.

Schools and districts also have a legal obligation to ensure equal access to online materials under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Sections 504 and 508 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. Schools and districts who do not take steps to make their websites accessible are subject to Office of Civil Rights (OCR) complaints, which may result in the loss of Federal funding.

+ Is accessibility a priority even during the COVID-19 epidemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has made website accessibility more important than ever. With school schedules and safety guidelines changing rapidly, it is critical to make sure that all families and staff members have access to important information.

+ What is website accessibility?

Website accessibility means making sure that information on your website is equally available to everyone, regardless of disability. That includes making sure that people with perceptual differences and people using assistive technologies (such as screen readers) or alternative methods of navigation (such as keyboard navigation) can utilize all of the elements of the website and access all of the information each page contains.

+ Are there guidelines for web accessibility?

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has created a set of standards known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) that have become the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility. The current standard that schools are expected to follow is WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

+ How do I make my website more accessible?

There are two elements to website accessibility: the website platform (or Content Management System (CMS)) and the content.

• An accessible platform will include elements like ARIA landmarks and “skip” functions (for people using screen readers or keyboard navigation), keyboard focus (to help people using keyboard navigation see where they are on the page), proper header hierarchy, accessible table structure, ensure proper color contrast and a way to add alt-text to images. Without these elements, there is a limit to how accessible you can make your website.
• Content creators also need to ensure that the content they are adding is accessible. That means eliminating non-accessible PDFs, adding alt-text to all images, using header structure appropriately, and using clear language that is easy to understand and translate, among other things.

+ Why do I need an accessibility checker?

Without some kind of tool to identify accessibility errors, it is difficult, if not impossible, to effectively address website accessibility. Without a software tool that flags problems, a webmaster would need to spend an enormous amount of time examining each element of the website individually—assuming they know what they are looking for and can recognize an accessibility error when they see it. And there are some types of accessibility errors that even an experienced web accessibility expert cannot easily detect without a software tool. Accessibility tools also provide important baseline data and allow webmasters to monitor progress towards web accessibility goals and demonstrate improvement for OCR or the courts.

+ What are the limitations of third-party accessibility checkers?

There are a number of third-party tools that schools can use to identify accessibility errors on their websites. Some, such as the WAVE tool from WebAIM, are free. There are also paid tools and services that promise to help schools find web accessibility errors. These paid services tend to be very pricey—often more expensive than the website platform itself.

All of the third-party tools, paid and free, use different methods and metrics when evaluating website accessibility. However, they all have similar limitations.

• They return a mix of both content accessibility errors (which webmasters should be able to fix) and platform accessibility errors (which webmasters have no control over).
• They require expertise to interpret. It can be hard to differentiate actual errors from issues that may or may not be problems, figure out exactly where on the page the error can be found, and know what to do about the error once it has been located.
• They can only scan content that is already published, so they cannot help webmasters prevent inaccessible content from making it onto the website.
• They put all the responsibility for accessibility on the webmaster and do not include easy-to-use tools for other content creators. This creates a substantial burden of time and energy for webmasters who must continually monitor and clean up web accessibility errors created by others.

eChalk schools have a different option: eChalk GUIDE. GUIDE is a built-in, native accessibility checker for the eChalk website platform. GUIDE shows you exactly where content accessibility errors are located and how to fix them.

+ How is eChalk GUIDE different from other accessibility checkers?

eChalk GUIDE is completely native to the eChalk platform and built for accessibility novices. It’s different from third party accessibility tools in several important ways.

• GUIDE pinpoints the exact location of the issue and explains it in clear English. With many third-party accessibility tools, it’s hard to determine from the report exactly where an issue is on the page, and even if you do find the issue, instructions for fixing the issue are written for a developer or accessibility expert. GUIDE clearly highlights each issue and gives advice for resolving the issue in plain English.
• GUIDE highlights accessibility issues before you publish. Many third-party tools are set up to scan the website on a periodic basis to check for accessibility errors. They also do not have the ability to check content unless it has actually been published. That means webmasters may not be aware of errors until after they have been live on the site for weeks. Because GUIDE is native to the eChalk CMS, it provides real-time information on web accessibility and even scans pages before you publish them. That makes it much easier for webmasters to maintain web accessibility over time and ensure that inaccessible content never goes live.
• GUIDE instills accessibility best practices for all content creators. Most third-party programs are designed to be used only by the webmaster, not all the other people who may be adding content to the site. That puts a huge burden on webmasters, who are continually cleaning up inaccessible content added by others. GUIDE is designed to be used by all content creators. Over time, using GUIDE reduces the burden on webmasters and instills accessibility best practices for all content creators.
• GUIDE is focused on content accessibility issues that the webmaster/content creator can control. The eChalk platform is natively accessible, so it already takes care of platform issues like ARIA landmarking and keyboard focus. GUIDE shows webmasters and content creators the content errors that are within their control, such as missing alt-text, PDF issues, and header problems. That allows webmasters to focus on actual issues they can and should address, without having to weed through long confusing reports.

+ How effective is eChalk GUIDE in reducing accessibility errors?

eChalk GUIDE has been very effective in helping schools reduce content accessibility errors and meet WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines. At the same time, GUIDE saves time and effort for school webmasters, so they can focus on creating great content and keeping their sites up to date. Overall, eChalk schools using GUIDE have 60% fewer content accessibility errors than eChalk schools without GUIDE.

+ How expensive is GUIDE?

GUIDE is ~50% less expensive than popular third-party web accessibility tools like Monsido and Siteimprove. For eChalk schools, GUIDE is the easiest and most cost-effective solution for web accessibility.