Section 1) Accessibility Standard

A. Introduction

A Few Facts…

* Today, there are over 54 million Americans with disabilities, a full 20 percent of the U.S. population. Almost half of these individuals have a severe disability, affecting their ability to see, hear, walk, or perform other basic functions of life.
* Americans with disabilities have a lower level of educational attainment than those without disabilities.
* Computer usage and Internet access for people with disabilities is half that of people without disabilities.
- President George Bush’s New Freedom Initiative
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/freedominitiative/freedominitiative.html

* A minimal estimate is that there are 1.5 million visually impaired computer users, including those who are blind.
* The total number of people ages 15 and older with any "limitation in seeing", who report they have access to the Internet is just over 1.5 million (1,549,000). The number of people ages 15 and older, with a limitation in seeing, who use a computer regularly is a bit under 1 million (979,000). Of those, about 196,000 people with a "severe" limitation in seeing have access to the Internet, and about 102,000 persons with a severe limitation in seeing use a computer on a regular basis.

- Data Source: The U.S. Bureau of the Census (1999) "Survey of Income and Program Participation" (SIPP).
– American Foundation for the Blind - Statistics and Sources for Professionals
http://www.afb.org/section.asp?SectionID=15&DocumentID=1367

Purpose: Reaching All Users

Because it is one of the first agents of information about Kennedy-King College that potential students and other end-users may encounter; our website is an essential means to communicate to both the general public, and the KKC community. It also contains vital components that assist administrators, faculty, and staff in supporting the student body.

Our goal is to develop the website into an online medium that:

serves as a strong online tool without barriers to help inform / assist end users and draw prospective students of all ages and abilities…

increases end-user productivity, success, and completion by ensuring that the site is efficient, accessible, and intuitive - thereby encouraging repeat traffic and long term usage…

uses “Universal Design” principles, compliance guidelines, and several methods of continual end-user feedback during the life of the website to increase satisfaction and improve the way the website serves the Kennedy-King community and the public as a whole.

A non-accessible website can cause end users with impairments (including but not limited to Blindness, Color Blindness, Low Vision, Deafness, Motor Disabilities, and Cognitive Disabilities) to run in to barriers when seeking information or assistance online. We are currently, and will be continually implementing guidelines which will ensure that:

individuals with impairments…

who are members of the student body, administration, faculty, staff, or the general public…

and who are seeking information or services from Kennedy-King College…

will have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to those individuals without impairments. We know that our target users sometimes face the following barriers / browse the web in the following ways…

Users who are Blind:

Images, photos, graphics are unusable
Users often listen to the Web pages
Users often jump from link to link using the TAB key
Users generally do not use a mouse
It may be difficult for users to tell where they are when listening to data table cell contents
Complex data tables and graphs that are usually interpreted visually are unusable
Frames cannot be "seen" all at once. They must be accessed separately, leading to disorientation.
Colors are unusable
Users expect links to take them somewhere
Screen readers read Web content in the literal order that it appears in the code
Individuals cannot see the events in videos

Users who are Color Blind:

Colors of similar contrast are often indistinguishable

Users with Low Vision:

Users often use screen enlargers
Text in graphics does not enlarge without special software, and looks pixilated when enlarged

Users who are Deaf:

Audio is unusable

Users with Motor Disabilities:

Users may not be able to use the mouse
Users may become fatigued when using "puff-and-sip" or similar adaptive technologies.
Users may be using voice activated software

Users with Cognitive Disabilities:

Users may become confused at complex layouts or inconsistent navigational schemes.
Users may have difficulty focusing on or comprehending lengthy sections of text
One method of input may not be sufficient

In order to eliminate these potential barriers and better serve individuals with impairments; the Kennedy-King College website is being redeveloped with these users in mind.

Methodology: Assessment and Implementation

The Kennedy-King College website will be continually assessed to determine the level of accessibility to the impaired end user. Employing a combination of:

various markup validators and evaluation tools…

end-user feedback and surveys…

comparison to WAI compliant and other institutional websites…

and an evaluation of the site from the developer’s side (manually comparing the code against compliance guidelines)…

we gathered findings that will be used to further develop the site in to one that embraces all users. Those findings have helped us create a continuous improvement plan that will enable the website to constantly evolve into a means of communication that reaches a broader and broader user base with each enhancement. We want to assist individuals with disabilities in achieving greater independence and help them to expand their opportunities by designing our website with their needs in mind. At Kennedy-King College, we strive to make our website usable to the greatest extent possible by people of all ages and abilities.

B. The standards with which we strive to comply:

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

We want to abide by the Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which has been put in place in order to bridge the digital divide between people with impairments and people without. Government organizations and educational institutions must make access to information technology equally available to all users. In an effort to ensure that we reach every potential user, Kennedy-King College is taking a proactive approach in reaching out to people with impairments by creating an accessible and universal design that appeals to all. As a result, the KKC website user base as a whole will benefit from developing a site that addresses the varied impairments of some of our end users.

City Colleges of Chicago Web Accessibility Recommendations

It benefits the individual campus…
Implementing the City Colleges of Chicago Web Accessibility Recommendations ensures that we are in line with the most basic of guidelines that allows us to reach out to individuals that may have previously “fallen through the cracks” due to inaccessibility issues on our site. Mending those “cracks” by making sure that we are always in compliance with basic guidelines ultimately reinforces impaired end-user productivity, success, and completion. Insuring that the impaired end-user’s needs are accommodated assists in affording them a wider range of opportunities for further independence. As a result, Kennedy-King College may appeal to a whole new group of prospective students, administrators, faculty, and staff – thereby affording the KKC community the opportunity to expand into a fuller, even more diverse population.

And CCC as a whole.
Because these standards are district-wide; uniformity in quality, accessibility, and other standards is then encouraged. When each campus complies with these standards, this uniformity ensures that no matter where in the network of City Colleges of Chicago the impaired end-user goes, she will have the same online experience that the non-impaired user has.

…the best result would come from everyone in the group doing what’s best for himself and the group
- John Nash (“A Beautiful Mind”)

W3C’s WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Beyond the City Colleges of Chicago Web Accessibility Recommendations, Kennedy-King College strives to comply with additional guidelines from each WAI priority level as suggested by The World Wide Web Consortium in order to provide as accessible an online environment as possible to the impaired end-user. The list of WAI guidelines with which the developer must comply was reviewed, and any items not listed in the City Colleges of Chicago Web Accessibility Recommendations were added to our initiative. The lists of WAI guidelines with which the developer should and may comply were reviewed, and as many of these items as possible were added to our initiative which were not listed in the City Colleges of Chicago Web Accessibility Recommendations.

The WAI Priority levels are differentiated in the following way:

A Web content developer must satisfy items from the [Priority 1] checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.

A Web content developer should satisfy items from the [Priority 2] checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.

A Web content developer may address items from the [Priority 3] checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents. Some checkpoints specify a priority level that may change under certain
(indicated) conditions.

Section 2) Initial Evaluation of Institutional Web Pages

A. Assessment Methodology

The 25 most frequently used webpages on the site were identified. Then, based on the standards chosen, were evaluated to determine the extent to which our website meets those requirements. A combination of manual (human judgment) and automated methods (software validators) were employed to provide the most comprehensive feedback possible.

A general assessment of the website experience overall was conducted through the following method:

1. Preliminary Sampling – Manual Evaluation

A preliminary sampling of end user feedback was gathered through: end user email inquiries; interviews; and surveys.

End User Emails:
Emails submitted by end users requesting assistance in troubleshooting their browsing experience were reviewed; and issues contained therein were addresses. Recurring issues were further analyzed. Those issues (whose resolution required a redesign or redevelopment of the site) were incorporated into our plan for the improving the site.

Interviews and Surveys:
Information was gathered via interviews and surveys to determine who uses the site (Student, Prospective Student, Staff / Faculty / Administrator, Visitor), how they use it, their rate of success in finding what they are looking for, what if anything would make their browsing experience better, etc.

2. Compliance with CCC Guidelines – Manual Evaluation

Then, the website was measured (manually) against the City Colleges of Chicago Web Accessibility Recommendations.

Guideline’s we measured against:

[City Colleges of Chicago Web Accessibility Recommendations]

To accommodate site visitors who use assistive devices, the Kennedy-King College website will:

Use a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g. via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).
Use equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentations or javascript/FLASH navigations.
Design webpages so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color. If color alone is used to convey information, people who cannot differentiate between certain colors and users with devices that have non-color or non-visual displays will not receive the information.
Organize documents so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.
Provide redundant text links instead of server-side image map. Provide client-side image maps instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined within available geometric shape.
Row and Column headers shall be identified for data tables.
Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have 2 or more logical levels of row or column headers.
Do not use frames. Web pages containing frames are not universally accessible. If you must use frames, provide a text only page, with equivalent information or functionality, to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.
When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology.
Use descriptive links. Avoid using "click here" to denote a link.
When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, provide a link to a plug-in or applet.
Test web pages in multiple browsers, on both Mac and PC's. Be conscious of the download times of web pages. Some users may be using dialup (56k).
Create web forms that are keyboard accessible and easy to use.
Allow users to skip repetitive navigation links.
Replace deprecated HTML tags with their style sheet alternatives.

3. Validators - Automated Evaluation

Online accessibility tools and validators were also essential methods in identifying accessibility pitfalls. Various tools were implemented – some of which actually mimicked the way a person with an impairment might experience the site. This allows the developer to temporarily “stand in the shoes” of a person with an impairment so that during the design process she/he may consider the barriers that are somewhat invisible to people without impairments; and implement the necessary accessibility standards in order to remove those barriers.

Validators were used to measure additional compliance guidelines: W3C’s WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) [Priority 1 checkpoints], [Priority 2 checkpoints], [Priority 3 checkpoints]

W3C’s WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) [Priority 1 checkpoints]

To achieve further compliance, Kennedy-King College will:

In General

Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document’s text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions).
Ensure that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes.
Until user agents allow users to control flickering, avoid causing the screen to flicker.
Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content.

Frames

Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation.

Applets and Scripts

Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.

Multimedia

Until user agents can automatically read aloud the text equivalent of a visual track, provide an auditory description of the important information of the visual track of a multimedia presentation.

For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g.,captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation.

When Necessary

If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page,provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3Ctechnologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible(original) page.

W3C’s WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) [Priority 2 checkpoints]

In General

Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen.
When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to convey information.
Create documents that validate to published formal grammars.
Use style sheets to control layout and presentation.
Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification.
Mark up lists and list items properly.
Mark up quotations. Do not use quotation markup for formatting effects such as indentation.
Ensure that dynamic content is accessible or provide an alternative presentation or page.
Until user agents allow users to control blinking, avoid causing content to blink (i.e., change presentation at a regular rate, such as turning on and off).
Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, do not create periodically auto-refreshing pages.
Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects.
Do not change the current window without informing the user.
Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported.
Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies.
Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate.
Clearly identify the target of each link.
Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.
Provide information about the general layout of a site (e.g., a site map or table of contents).
Use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner.

W3C’s WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) [Priority 3 checkpoints]

In General

Identify the primary natural language of a document.
Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects.
Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.
Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links.
Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism.
Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.
Provide information about document collections (i.e., documents comprising multiple pages.).
Provide a means to skip over multi-line ASCII art.
Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate comprehension of the page.
Create a style of presentation that is consistent across pages.

Images and Image Maps

Until user agents render text equivalents for client-side image map links, provide redundant text links for each active region of a client-side image map.

Tables

Provide summaries for tables.
Provide abbreviations for header labels.

4. Accessibility Tools – Automated Evaluation

Accessibility tools were used to attempt to recreate the impaired user’s environment for the developer; thereby revealing barriers that are otherwise invisible to the non-impaired end user.

Windows XP’s “Narrator” – A built-in Windows OS tool that accesses items on the screen and provides a voice equivalent to identify the end user’s currently active window and contents thereof.

Screen reader Simulation – Allowed the developer to experience the online environment of a user who has an impairment that requires the use of a screen reader to access website content. It mimics the pitfalls that an impaired user encounters when browsing a site that is not fully accessible.
http://www.webaim.org/simulations/screenreader.php

Low-vision Simulation – Allowed the developer to experience the online environment of a user who has low vision impairment. This simulation mimics the difficulties that someone with cataracts, glaucoma, or macular degeneration will face while trying to access web content.
http://www.webaim.org/simulations/lowvision.php

Visicheck – Allowed the developer to experience the online environment of a user who has varied forms of colorblindness
http://www.vischeck.com/

Accessibility tools – Cognitive Impairment:

Distractability Simulation - Allowed the developer to experience the frustrations similar to what someone with a cognitive disability may experience on the Web. It recreates an environment in which there are many distracting components on the webpage - using items which are continually moving, elements that are not grouped logically and do not flow intuitively.
http://www.webaim.org/simulations/cognitive.php

Readability index calculator - Calculated a readability index score for the text content on the KKC website using the Flesch-Kincaid reading ease and grade level formula. This method indicated whether or not the content is clear and understandable to end users with cognitive impairments.
http://www.standards-schmandards.com/exhibits/rix/index.php

Flicker Rate Test for Gif Images – Allowed the developer to check images in a web page for flickering, rate of flickering and color contrast. This is particularly important to prevent seizures (triggered by this variance) in people with Photosensitive Epilepsy.
http://www.webaccessibile.org/test/check.aspx

Accessibility tools – General Compliance:

WebXACT – Used to analyze the selected portion of the Kennedy-King website for accessibility issues. The results were logged and compiled with the results from manual testing and other automated tests. The results are generated in a report that is comprehensive and offers clear solutions for webpages with non-compliant code.
http://webxact.watchfire.com/

HiSoftware – Used to specify which regulations are being violated when not in compliance. The results can be customized to show errors for any of the four following sets of accessibility guidelines: Section 508; WCAG/Priority1, WCAG/Priority1, 2; WCAG/Priority1, 2, 3.
http://www.hisoftware.com/accmonitorsitetest/

B. Key Findings (Interpretative Summary) and Recommended Solutions

* The current key findings are those for the previous Kennedy-King College website (2005). Upon re-assessment (after the redesign / redevelopment of the new site) new key findings will be measured against initial data in order to guage improvement. Assessments every year thereafter are to be carried out; and the findings measured in order to ensure continual improvement of the Kennedy-King College website.

Show Initial Key Findings

Recommended Solutions – Feedback, Interviews, and Surveys

In order to increase overall end-user success, the following universal design improvements should be implemented globally…

Readability - Body text will be made scannable by highlighting subheadings, and emphasizing the beginning phrase in each paragraph.

Navigation– The navigation will be organized in an intuitive, non-redundant manner and assembled into logical groups.

Areas of important navigation (other than main navigation) will be created which will always be present.

Satellite Campuses
Enrollment Options
Quick Navigation
Other City Colleges of Chicago links

Scrolling - In most cases, content will be made scrollable within each page, allowing the entire site to be viewed with little or no browser scrolling necessary. Each page is viewable at 800 x 600 or higher screen resolution.

Content- Reorganizing the information architecture of large sections so that they are scannable according to user preference.

Reorganize the “College Programs” section to be scannable according to:

“Departments”
“Degrees Offered”
“Majors”
“Course Descriptions”
“Course Codes / Program Codes”

Augmenting the “Contact” section to include employee listings according to category:

Administration
Faculty
Faculty Homesites
Training Specialists
Staff
Advisors
Departments
All Employees

Updating Content- All content must be validated before migration to the new site. It will be emailed to the proper department to either confirm that it is correct, or be corrected by the department before being posted to the new site. Once new content is implemented, there will be an online update form on each page that the end user can fill out to alert the webmaster of any information on that particular page which becomes outdated.

Searchable Content – The site will be made searchable with the addition of a search engine enabled by a third party service (until a commercial alternative which will enable the KKC website to produce custom results pages is acquired).

Recommended Solutions – Automated Tools

In order to reach our goal of meeting all guidelines, the following improvements should be made:

General
Develop a Kennedy-King College Web Accessibility Policy.

Purchase the most popular assistive technology software used by people with impairments. Use these software applications when testing each page for accessibility.

Identify or develop training courses, tutorials, lectures, and other resources that all designers / developers must participate in to ensure familiarity with accessibility guidelines before they begin building webpages

Launch a Kennedy-King College Web Accessibility Policy awareness campaign with brochures / flyers and a section of the website dedicated to the policy, procedures, laws, resources, tutorials, courses, online learning, lectures, etc.)

Ensure that all designers / developers abide by the Kennedy-King College Web Accessibility Policy when creating new webpages or content.

Develop a fully compliant website template to be used by future designers / developers.

Content
When content is mirrored in another format, be sure that all versions are updated at the same time.

When writing content, use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for the site’s content.

The KKC site will be continually tested for compatibility in Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Safari, and several other popular browsers to ensure usability in as many environments as possible.
In order to make KKC’s site browseable by both the vision impaired and end users with their browser’s image display disabled; images, flash elements, multimedia, etc, will be encoded with "alt" tag descriptions, and "longdesc" tag descriptions. Any multimedia presentations must be captioned or be accompanied by a text equivalent.
All future webpages are to be designed to avoid causing the end user’s screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55Hz. All images are to be optimized so that they redraw on the end user’s screen without any problem.
Printer Friendly versions (free of color and images) of each page will be made available. These pages are 100% scannable by assistive technology; and are fully navigable, containing all of the information contained in the full color site. Additionally, the content of the text-only pages will be updated whenever the primary page changes.

The webpage layout is to be organized so that the end user does not require an associated style sheet to read and understand the information on the page.

Navigation
A method will be implemented that will allow people using assistive technology to skip repetitive navigation links.
Text links and client-side image maps will be used in place of server-side image maps.

Tables
To ensure that assistive technology will scan tabular layouts with efficiency and ease, markup will be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have 2 or more logical levels of row or column headers. Row and Column headers will also be used to further identify data tables. Summaries will be used to describe each table.

Frames
Frames used on the site will be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation by assistive technology, and search engine indexing. When frames are used, text only equivalents will be made available to people who cannot access frames.

Scripts
When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script will be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology.

Plug-ins
If a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page will provide a link to a plug-in or applet. Example: for all Flash content, provide a link to Flash installation on Macromedia (Adobe) site.

Forms
Online forms will be enhanced to allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. Forms will be organized and labeled logically, allowing keyboard access to the fields and options.

Section 3) Plan for Continuous Improvement and Annual Status Report on Web Accessibility

A. Plan for Continuous Improvement

In order to ensure steady growth and development of the Kennedy-King College website and to maintain compliance with accessibility guidelines, we will implement a system of continuous improvement that focuses not only on accessibility, but overall usability, functionality, accuracy of information, and enhancements that will help evolve the site into the most effective tool possible. Our goal is to develop the KKC website into a means of communication that reaches a broader and broader user base with each enhancement. This can be achieved by expanding our assessment methodologies and ensuring that all webpages and content created in the future are fully accessible and compliant, employing universal design principles.

Expanded Evaluation
After the initial assessment has been carried out and the improvements implemented, the Kennedy King College website will go through an expanded, post development evaluation. User groups comprised of people with varied impairments will be assembled annually in order to test website accessibility. All feedback will be recorded and data will be used to both measure success / improvement; and develop / implement further enhancements.

Also, Software will be acquired that is utilized by users with impairments (Hal, JAWS, etc). It will assist the developer / designer in testing the institutional website for compatibility within the environment that individuals with impairments experience the internet.

Ensuring Accessibility of all Future Webpages
Kennedy-King College will put into place an informational website on web accessibility as a part of its visual identity guidelines. It will be the responsibility of the webmaster, all web designers, and all content contributors at KKC to adhere to the accessibility guidelines established therein whenever given the task of creating new webpages or content for the Kennedy-King College website. There will be a web development resource page within the site that will include accessibility testing tools and links to other information or products on accessibility. We will also deploy a Web accessibility campaign in which a brochure is developed and circulated. It will inform the Kennedy-King College community and general public of the new web accessibility policy; and point them to an accompanying website with the newly adopted guidelines, resources, and suggestions.

Automated testing of new webpages: To help ensure that the site is continually being created as a fully accessible and compliant one, online tools and validators will be one of the methods employed to test the validity and accessibility of newly added pages / sections of the Kennedy-King Website.

Random User testing of websites: Online feedback forms (troubleshooting), Online feedback surveys (rate of success and completion), will be continually available online to solicit random assessment feedback. Manual Surveys and interviews will be administered periodically to end users to guarantee that the site is continually fully usable and navigable; and to measure improvement against the last data collected.

Training:Accessibility resource materials will be made available online within the Web Accessibility Guidelines section of the Kennedy-King College Visual Identity Guidelines. These resources will include, but are not limited to links to: Accessibility Tutorials, Impairment Simulators, Validation Tools, Accessibility Standards Websites, etc. Courses, Seminars, User-Groups, Committees, etc. will also be identified when available.

Peer System: Developers / Designers are encouraged to network with other webmasters to provide mutual feedback, support, and idea sharing. A structured periodic meeting (virtual or actual) should be scheduled to troubleshoot, critique and support the work of other Developers / Designers to ensure adherence to the standards adopted by that institution.

Accessibility Software: It is important to take a proactive approach to accessibility when creating all future webpages and websites. Kennedy-King College wants to eliminate all barriers before the end user experiences them. Various programs that people with impairments utilize to help them browse the web will be purchased and used for testing during website development. If the developer / designer tests all newly created webpages using this software before publishing the pages to the web; he / she can spare the end user the frustration of accessibility barriers altogether.

Frequently Asked Questions Bulletin Board: Questions submitted and posted by end users will be utilized to identify usability issues. Viable solutions will be welcome from all students, administrators, faculty, and staff. By offering immediate solutions to end users who encounter similar issues, the component will help to support administrators, faculty, and staff in assisting the student body. This component can be repeated in different areas of the website for different topics.

Accessibility Marketing: A brochure will be developed that describes Section 508, Kennedy-King’s policy on Web Accessibility, our reasons for developing a policy, and related resources and other information. Kennedy-King College will also develop a section of their website which both mirrors this information and includes expanded information on the guidelines with which we strive to comply, training courses, books, web resources and tutorials, schedules for on site training (when applicable), links to KKC web templates and other components which encourage compliance with these standards.

Kennedy-King College’s Policy on Website Accessibility: A policy will be developed which follows the guidelines that are delineated in: Section 508, CCC Web Accessibility Recommendations, W3C’s WAI (Priority 1, 2, 3). It will be displayed in its own section on the Kennedy-King College website. The policy and its implementation will be reviewed every year to ensure continuous compliance and improvement.

Timeline
Over the course of one year, a transitional implementation plan will be employed which will allow the Kennedy-King Website to be brought into full compliance with all of the standards adopted by this institution as a part of its Web Accessibility Policy. The implementation of this plan will occur over the course of four three-month intervals which will be marked with milestones and goals. The yearly implementation of applicable sections of this plan will encourage Kennedy King College to continually remain in compliance with its adopted accessibility guidelines.

Transition:

Determine which 25 pages are used the most.

Assess the website’s current state of accessibility.

Implement Solutions.

Using the findings from the reports generated on the initial 25 pages evaluated, implement all solutions which are easily executable.
Generated reports on the remaining pages then continue to implement solutions starting from the homepage inward.
Be sure to measure each page manually against the City College of Chicago Web Recommendations before publishing file to web.
Revalidate each page after the corrections are implemented, and record the findings.

Design a fully compliant webpage template to be used for future webpages.

Transition all pages which still fail to meet standards to the new template.

From the guidelines adopted, develop a web accessibility policy for Kennedy-King College.

Develop a section of the Kennedy-King College website that is devoted to our commitment to web accessibility and the new policy.

Conduct information sessions announcing new web content development policies and procedures.

Identify or develop training courses on website accessibility and Section 508.

Purchase Assistive Technology Software.

Kennedy-King College's ICCB Website Accessibility Plan

Continuous Improvement:

1st Quarter / January – March

Goals:

Employee Awareness, Automated Assessment (Validators and Tools), Gather and Record Data

Tasks:

Phase One - Training:
Identify training courses for developer / designers on strategies for maintaining web accessibility on new web content, modified web content, web applications, and best practices for web development / design.

Ensure that all new employees who will have the responsibility of creating new webpages or content for the Kennedy-King College website are adequately trained in web accessibility standards, policies, and best practices by requiring them to attend web accessibility training courses, seminars, online courses, tutorials, etc.

Identify a group of web professionals who can participate in a “peer system” of website evaluation and group assessment who can share information and training.

Phase Two – Automated Evaluation:
Identify the 25 most visited pages of the website and compare those pages against the Kennedy-King College Website Accessibility Guidelines. Measure the data against last year’s findings and record the results.

Conduct automated assessments of the same 25 pages using online or desktop assessment tools. Include a tabular layout of the findings, formatted according to Priority 1, 2, 3. Measure the data against last year’s findings and record the results.

Some things to determine:

what percentages of pages currently meet W3c’s WAI guidelines Determine which priority level was violated most often
which priority level is most supported
which pages are most compliant
which pages are least compliant
which guidelines were violated most
which guidelines were violated least
which guidelines are supported 100%

2nd Quarter / April – June

Goals:

Implement Solutions (Automated Evaluation), Develop Annual Focus Group, Manual Assessment (Human Judgment), Gather and Record Data

Tasks:

Phase Three – Fix Violations that are Easily Resolved:
Fix any easily removable accessibility barriers (i.e., alt tags, captions) indicated by manual and automated assessment.

Develop a new, accessible web template employing all guidelines and techniques for removing barriers.

Phase Four – Develop a User Group
Prepare to request members of the community with disabilities to conduct testing for accessibility of new web template (develop flyers, web announcements, etc.)

Develop surveys, interview questions, and feedback forms to administer to focus group.

Develop a battery of basic tasks that the focus group will perform.

Develop a focus group made up of people with varied impairments. The impairments should include (but do not have to be limited to) various forms of blindness and cognitive impairments. Each impairment should be represented by 3-5 people.

Have focus group conduct manual assessments of overall website usability by carrying out basic end user tasks. Using end-user surveys, interviews, or online feedback forms, determine how successfully, they were able to complete the tasks. Record all accessibility and other usability issues cited by focus group. Some things to test for:

Completion of each basic task
Rate ease of use 1-10 (10 high)
Log at which point if any the user feels “lost”
Determine which areas / functions of the site are used most
Determine which areas are easiest to use and note that functionality / components that allow ease of use.
Cross reference Automated tests with manual user testing
Determine most frequently recurring problems
Determine which violations account for most problems
Solicit suggestions for easier use
Log all user issues

Develop a set of recommended solutions based on both the automated and manual tests performed on the website. Cite the guideline violated with a link to its online resource.

3rd Quarter / July – September

Goals:

Implement Final Solutions (Manual Evaluation - Human Judgment), Re-evaluate Website (Focus Groups), Finalize Website Template

Tasks:

Phase Five: Implement Improvements Suggested by Focus Group
Implement all remaining improvements as determined by the focus group results, and suggested improvements by users with impairments.

Update these changes to the new template.

Phase Six:
Using the same Focus Group and the same questions, criteria, and tasks, re-evaluate the website with all changes implemented.

Log all improvements (and remaining issues if applicable) and apply all remaining improvements. If there are issues which still cannot be resolved, develop a method of alternate access to this information (i.e. an all text version of this section of the site).

Finalize the new fully accessible Kennedy-King College website template, and use this template for all future webpages.

4th Quarter / October – December

Goals:
Write Annual Underrepresented Groups Report

Tasks:

Phase Seven: Compile Data into a Report
Gather all data and generate a report detailing all key findings and suggested solutions. Write a report on all findings, progress, issues, solutions; and format it according to the Illinois Community College Board Web Accessibility Evaluation, Plans for Improvement, and Annual Reporting Requirements. Be sure to include:

Comparison of findings with the previous year and summarize how the site has improved (when appropriate).

Comparison of findings with the previous year and summarize how the site has worsened (when appropriate).

A metrics report based on the data comparison. Include tables of findings and graphs of progress.

January – Submit Underrepresented Groups Report

B. Annual Status Report
Each year, the same methods of measuring end user success and Section 508 / W3c-WAI compliance that are described in the above report and improvement plan will be used to measure to what degree the website has actually improved. At this time, policies, will be reviewed and revised (if necessary); and further evaluation methods will be sought (if necessary).
* Not Yet Applicable