skip to main content

NCDAE: The National Center on Disability and Access to Education

Accreditation and Web Accessibility: Why Should Accreditors Care?

Equitable access to higher education has long been recognized as a challenge experienced by many individuals, including those from racial and ethnic groups, women, students from low socioeconomic status and students with disabilities. Today, many of the barriers that have historically limited these students’ ability to succeed have been removed or reduced.

However, while many obstacles to higher education are less of an issue, for some students with disabilities, simply gaining physical access to a higher education institution is not enough. Many students still do not have equal access to course content. While buildings and physical spaces have been constructed to be accessible, digital materials and instructional websites should likewise be created to provide fair and equitable access to all. Without equal access to digital information, including institutional websites, students with disabilities face unnecessary barriers to their success.

Access to an institution’s website is integral to an increasing number of functions in higher education today. These functions go well beyond online courses and course materials: essential activities such as registration, library services, and testing require online interaction. Moreover, most faculty and staff must utilize digital environments and the institutional web in order to do their work and participate in the mission of the institution.

Given the growing reliance on digital environments, it is essential that all students, faculty, and staff members have the access they need to succeed. This includes those with disabilities who may be dependent on the accessibility and usability of those environments to participate fully in higher education and the activities of their institution (as seen in the video of individuals with disabilities in higher ed video). The need for accessibility is gaining further momentum as more persons with disabilities engage in higher education, including returning veterans who now have a disability as well as lifelong learners aging into disability.

Why should accreditation commissions and review teams care?

Providing an inclusive and supportive environment for teaching and learning is a critical part of postsecondary education and a central tenet of the accreditation philosophy. Therefore, accreditors and review teams should support and encourage institutions as they take a leadership role to develop, procure and maintain accessible digital materials and institutional web content.

Web accessibility also maps onto the standards and criteria of all regional accrediting agencies and is in line with many quality improvement plans. It also provides a number of value-added benefits for constituent institutions — most of which can support their reaffirmation submissions:

Web Accessibility affects student outcomes:

Web accessibility makes sound financial policy:

Web accessibility supports technology:

Web accessibility aligns with institutional mission statements and strategic planning initiatives:

How can you help your member institutions?

As representatives of an accreditation agency, you can help your institutions to improve web accessibility (and thus institutional quality) across their systems and we would like to help!

Project GOALS (Gaining Online Accessible Learning through Self-Study) worked with consortium partner SACSCOC (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools- Commission on Colleges) to create resources that can be used by regional accreditors and their constituent institutions to promote these efforts and to leverage accessibility work during the accreditation or reaffirmation process. In conjunction with these institutional resources, Project GOALS also developed a set of materials to be used specifically by review teams and accrediting entities to understand and evaluate evidence of web accessibility during reaffirmation.

Are there any resources that would help your accreditation body or review team? Please contact us, we would love to hear from you about materials that you would want us to develop!