WCAG 2.1 AA Compliance Checklist for School Websites

WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the accessibility standard that school district websites are expected to meet under ADA Title II. The full specification can feel overwhelming — it spans dozens of technical success criteria — but most of the requirements boil down to common-sense principles. Here is a practical checklist written for school webmasters, not developers.

Perceivable: Can everyone see and hear your content?

• Alt text on images — Every informational image needs a text description. Decorative images should be marked so screen readers skip them.
• Video captions — All pre-recorded videos need accurate captions. Auto-generated captions from YouTube or Vimeo are a start but often need manual review.
• Color contrast — Text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background (3:1 for large text). This especially matters for school colors used on websites — yellow text on white is a common culprit.
• Responsive text — Users need to be able to zoom to 200% without losing content or functionality.

Operable: Can everyone navigate your site?

• Keyboard navigation — Every interactive element (links, buttons, menus, forms) must be reachable and usable with a keyboard alone. Try tabbing through your site to test this.
• Skip navigation links — Provide a “Skip to main content” link so keyboard users don’t have to tab through the entire header on every page.
• No keyboard traps — Users should never get stuck in a component (like a modal or dropdown) with no way to escape using the keyboard.
• Enough time — If your site has auto-rotating carousels or session timeouts, users need the ability to pause, stop, or extend them.

Understandable: Is your content clear?

• Page language — Set the language attribute on your HTML so assistive technology can pronounce words correctly.
• Form error messages — When a user makes a mistake on a form, explain what went wrong and how to fix it in plain language.
• Consistent navigation — Keep menus in the same location and order across all pages.

Robust: Does your site work with assistive technology?

• Valid HTML — Clean, well-structured markup helps screen readers and other assistive tools interpret your content correctly.
• ARIA labels where needed — Interactive elements that lack visible text labels need ARIA attributes to convey their purpose.
• Status messages — Notifications, alerts, and status changes need to be announced to screen readers without requiring a page refresh.

Getting started

This checklist covers the most common areas where school websites fall short. The fastest way to see where you stand is to run a free accessibility scan — you will get a letter grade and a plain-English breakdown of every issue found. From there, you can work through fixes methodically or create an account to track your progress over time.