Schools share a lot of information every day. How can we make sure all members of our communities – staff, families, students, partner agencies, state officials, the general public – can understand and respond to what we are sharing? Accessibility is a good start.

Everything accessed from a computer or phone must be:

• Mobile-Friendly (Most users outside of work are on a phone) 

• Usable (Can the recipient effectively read this information?)

• Searchable (Is the text of my webpage/email/flyer searchable or hidden inside of an image?)

• Translatable (Will a screen reader or language translation tool be able to read this information?) 

Tips for improving digital accessibility

Use plain text as much as possible

• Use built-in tools to create headings, styles and tags rather than manually adjusting color, size, etc.
• Avoid all-caps, and use proper casing
• Spell out acronyms
• Use enough contrast between text and background
• Avoid tables. If using tables, ensure header rows are marked and that you have the same number of rows and columns throughout. 
• Provide alt-text for any images included in your document.
• Use built-in accessibility checkers in your software to help flag potential problems

Avoid Images on Text

• Text inside of an image file is not readable to a screen reader
• Use images for attention and decoration rather than to convey the main message
• Use easy-to-read font 
• Use enough contrast between text and background
• Include alt-text for all images and provide a description of the image in the body of your email or document 
• When a document is scanned, the text is converted into an image and it loses readability and accessibility. Share original digital documents whenever possible.

Be Descriptive

Digital tools read and process information exactly as provided on websites, emails, online documents, apps, etc. When uploading documents and creating web pages, be descriptive with your:

• Filenames
• URLs
• Alt-text
• Meta data
• Anchor text
• Captions
• Transcripts 
• Headers and Subheaders

PDFs

Not everything needs to be shared as a PDF!

• Is this information that can be shared more easily as plain text through a webpage, email, ParentSquare message, etc?
• Is this our information to share, or does it belong to someone else? 
• Is this intended to be printed? Is the end user likely to have a printer? 
• Is this a form that can be completed electronically, or could it be moved to Google Forms, Microsoft Forms or Informed K-12?

Common documents that frequently pose accessibility challenges include calendars, menus, forms, state report cards, state and federal plans, and organizational charts. Even though these documents are meant to be printed, they must also be made accessibile if they will be posted on the website or shared electronically.