Marty Bray

CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE WEB SITES

Community colleges frequently are the points of access to postsecondary training and education for members of special populations. Physical barriers are obvious problems that limit access for individuals with disabilities, and community colleges have made reasonable accommodations in this regard. One area that often is overlooked, however, is the on-line barriers that limit access to Web-based content. This study examined the Web-based content accessibility of community college home pages. A total of 253 community college home pages were evaluated for content accessibility. Only 23% of the community college home pages evaluated were determined to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. Types of accessibility problems, resources for designing accessible Web sites, and methods for validating Web sites are reported.Community colleges frequently are the points of access to postsecondary training and education for members of special populations. Physical barriers are obvious problems that limit access for individuals with disabilities, and community colleges have made reasonable accommodations in this regard. One area that often is overlooked, however, is the on-line barriers that limit access to Web-based content. This study examined the Web-based content accessibility of community college home pages. A total of 253 community college home pages were evaluated for content accessibility. Only 23% of the community college home pages evaluated were determined to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. Types of accessibility problems, resources for designing accessible Web sites, and methods for validating Web sites are reported.

Accessibility of Middle Schools' Web Sites for Students with Disabilities

Many middle schools use the Web to disseminate and gather information. Online barriers often limit the accessibility of the Web for students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accessibility of home pages of a sample of middle schools. The authors located 165 Web sites using a popular online directory and evaluated the sites for accessibility. A software program quantified the number of accessibility errors at each site. Most middle school home pages had accessibility problems, and the majority of them represented severe concerns that should be given a high priority for improvement. The good news is that the majority of the errors can easily be corrected. The work reflects a need for middle schools to continuously examine the accessibility of their home pages. Direction for improving accessibility is provided.