Digital ADA requirements for schools: The 508 compliance checklist for educators

Digital accessibility lawsuits are on the rise, with more than 4,000 filings in 2024—a trend that is expected to continue. To understand why (and to avoid becoming part of this statistic), let’s start with a quick history lesson.

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Section 508 & ADA requirements for schools

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are the two most important and widely applicable laws when it comes to digital accessibility in education. 

Section 508 requires that all electronic and information technology used by federal agencies and institutions receiving federal funding be accessible to individuals with disabilities. This includes websites, online courses, multimedia content and learning management systems. Section 508 ensures students with disabilities have equal access to educational resources, tools and services and can fully participate in the learning experience. The ADA was passed in 1990, further strengthening protections for people with disabilities by addressing both physical and digital access. The ADA requires all public entities, including educational institutions, to provide equal access to all communications, services, programs and activities. 

Educational institutions that don’t adhere to Section 508 and ADA requirements for schools risk serious legal consequences. What complicates things is that accessibility best practices and laws are playing a seemingly never-ending game of catch-up, as technology advances beyond obsolete legal scopes. Meanwhile, growing social awareness and concern for inclusion and accessibility place increasing stress on organizations to comply with evolving standards.

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In a 2024 survey of 1 million websites, nearly 96% had detected accessibility failures, with the most common issues being inadequate contrast, missing descriptive alt text, missing form labels, empty links and empty buttons. The good news is that education websites have significantly fewer accessibility errors on average compared to many other sectors. The bad news is that many still fail to meet standards. 

The standards, defined

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are internationally recognized standards for web accessibility. They act as a 508 compliance checklist, offering a comprehensive framework for creating accessible digital content. These guidelines are divided into four principles—Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust—which aim to ensure individuals with various abilities can access and engage with content across a range of technologies. WCAG follows three levels of conformance: A (basic), AA (legal standard) and AAA (ideal, highly stringent). 

In October 2023, the WCAG 2.2 guidelines were released, featuring nine additional success criteria. With these updated standards, many websites may now fall short of current accessibility best practices (i.e., if your site hasn't been updated since October 2023, you could be non-compliant). 

A note on overlays

Among the available DIY fixes for ADA compliance are overlays—third-party widgets or plugins that claim to automatically make a website accessible by adding features like screen reader support, keyboard navigation adjustments and contrast modifications. 

Many organizations turn to overlays, enticed by the promise of an easy, fast, low-cost alternative to manual remediation. Unfortunately, overlays fail to address many fundamental accessibility issues and don’t adhere to accessibility best practices, often creating more harm than good. In fact, out of the 4,000+ digital accessibility lawsuits in 2024, 25% were against businesses with an accessibility widget on their site. Furthermore, many of these suits cited such widgets as barriers to equal access rather than solutions.

How to meet digital ADA requirements for schools

Step 1: Automated and manual testing

Ensuring digital accessibility requires thorough, diligent testing to verify your website, app and/or learning management systems meet WCAG 2.2 standards. While automated tools can catch many errors, only about 30% of the WCAG 2.0 success criteria and none of the additional WCAG 2.2 success criteria can be tested using an automated tool. Therefore, a combined approach that uses both automated and manual testing is essential for determining the current accessibility of your digital properties—and getting them up to standard. 

An effective approach typically means automated testing for preliminary inspections, extensive manual scrutiny of individual web pages against the 508 compliance checklist and testing of various functions such as online form submissions. 

There are several tools available to conduct preliminary automated testing. It is recommended that you determine which tools will work with firewall settings, and have design and developer teams use the same tools. Here are some free tools to help you get started:

• W3C CSS Validator: Finds errors, typos and incorrect uses of CSS (coding language used to control the design and layout of a website). It will also advise when the CSS poses some usability risks.
• Contrast Checker by WebAIM: Assesses text legibility and visual contrast.
• Accessibility Scanner (Android) & Accessibility Inspector (iOS): Check for app accessibility.
• WAVE by WebAIM: Uses a simple red, yellow, green icon to show errors, warnings and fully accessible areas. It also has an ARIA check (attributes added to make content accessible to users who use assistive technologies) and color contrast analyzer built in, and you can turn on/off style sheets.
• NVDA: Open-source screen reader for Windows.
• VoiceOver: Built-in screen reader for macOS and iOS devices.
• PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC 3): Evaluates PDF documents for accessibility compliance.

Step 2: Make adjustments

Naturally, the next step is to make the necessary adjustments to get your site up to standards. Collaborating with designers, developers and accessibility consultants ensures these changes align with accessibility best practices and improve overall digital usability. Here are some common adjustments that might be necessary:

• Alt Text: Ensure all images have descriptive alternate text and videos have live captions.
• Text Images: Replace any graphics containing important text with text itself.
• Content Structure: Organize your content with proper headings, lists and consistent layouts so there is a logical, easy-to-follow flow of information.
• Color Contrast: Ensure there is sufficient contrast between the text and background.
• Form Accessibility: Label each form field correctly and ensure users can submit forms using assistive technology.

Step 3: Audit and repeat

Digital accessibility isn't a one-time fix. After making necessary adjustments to meet WCAG 2.2 standards, regular auditing is essential to ensure your digital properties remain compliant as accessibility standards and technologies continue to evolve. It is recommended that you set an internal timeline with regular auditing to catch new issues as they arise and ensure compliance with updated standards. 

Don’t wait for a lawsuit

Websites are often designed under the assumption that their audience is homogeneous in their abilities, with user experience and accessibility getting pushed to the back burner or forgotten completely. Moving digital accessibility from an afterthought to a priority can help you avoid the legal fees, stress and reputation damage that come with complaints and lawsuits. 

Making digital materials accessible to everyone in your educational community—staff, students, parents, etc.—is simply the right thing to do. Adhering to the updated WCAG guide, or 508 compliance checklist, means creating a learning environment where people of all abilities have equal access to opportunities. It means setting your institution and those within it up for success.

We’re here to help

If it wasn’t obvious, accessibility is something we take very seriously. It’s why we were called on to share our insights across the country, and it’s why we’ve created several free guides available to the public: 

• WCAG and ADA Practical Resource Guide (508 Compliance Checklist)
• Best Practices for ADA Compliance on Social Media
• ADA Principles for Accessible Design

We’ve honed our skills through years of experience, including WCAG 2.2-conforming websites, document remediation, ADA-compliant digital media and accessible design. With decades of experience working with education clients, we understand the unique challenges districts and institutions face and are adept at helping these clients solve tricky challenges through full-service marketing. Whether you need support with ADA-compliant website design or a full brand refresh, we’ve got you covered. If you have questions or need marketing support, get in touch with us.