Update on the Accessibility Audit of Proclamation 2014 Materials

July 19, 2016

COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD: DISCUSSION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: NO ACTION

SUMMARY: This item provides the opportunity for staff to present the committee with an overview of the results of the accessibility audit of digital materials adopted through Proclamation 2014. The audit was conducted to determine the extent to which the materials comply with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (20 U.S.C. 794d).

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §31.022.

TEC, §31.022, requires the State Board of Education (SBOE) to adopt rules to provide for a full and complete investigation of instructional materials for each subject in the foundation curriculum and for each subject in the enrichment curriculum.

BOARD RESPONSE: This item is presented for review and comment.

PREVIOUS BOARD ACTION: The SBOE issued Proclamation 2014 in April 2012 and adopted materials submitted in response to it in November 2013. The proclamation called for materials in K-12 science and technology applications, K-8 mathematics (English), and K-5 mathematics (Spanish).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (reauthorized 2004) requires that students with disabilities receive their instructional materials in accessible formats at the same time as their non-disabled peers. Texas Education Agency (TEA) provides braille, large-print, and audio versions of adopted print instructional materials, but publishers are responsible for ensuring that adopted electronic instructional materials are accessible to students with disabilities.

The TEA contracted with Savvy Technology Solutions to review 1,500 sample pages from 23 publishers. The products reviewed consisted of digital materials in PDF format, web application format, and Flash format. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether the digital materials adopted under Proclamation 2014 are fully accessible to students with disabilities. The audits included manual and automated testing of web screens, web pages, typical user pathways, and specified user tasks against WCAG Guidelines 2.0 Levels A and AA.

The findings of the audit are summarized in Accessibility Review of Proclamation 2014 Digital Materials Auditing Results and Analysis for Texas Education Agency.

FISCAL IMPACT: None.

PUBLIC AND STUDENT BENEFIT: Equal access to electronic instructional materials enables students with disabilities to have the same educational experience as students without disabilities.

PROCEDURAL AND REPORTING IMPLICATIONS: None.

LOCALLY MAINTAINED PAPERWORK REQUIREMENTS: None.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None.

OTHER COMMENTS AND RELATED ISSUES: None.

Staff Members Responsible:
Monica Martinez, Associate Commissioner
Standards and Programs

Kelly Callaway, Division Director
Instructional Materials and Educational Technology

Attachment:
Statutory Citations (PDF, 22KB)

Separate Exhibit:
Accessibility Review of Proclamation 2014 Digital Materials
Auditing Results and Analysis for Texas Education Agency (PDF, 510KB)