Policy, Standards, & FAQs
CCC Accessibility Standard
Comprising 116 colleges across 73 districts, the California Community Colleges (CCC) is a publicly funded institution with an ideal that higher education should be available to everyone. In this spirit, the CCC has a mission-driven and legal obligation to comply with state and federal requirements related to accessibility for individuals with disabilities. It is the responsibility of local districts to ensure compliance with all applicable accessibility requirements.
The CCC Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) is fully committed to making Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and instructional technology accessible. CCCCO views accessibility of such material as foundational to the CCC’s mission and a cornerstone of high-quality pedagogy. As such, the CCCCO has established this standard to affirm accessibility expectations of all CCC districts.
- Letter from the Chancellor regarding new Accessibility Standard [PDF]
- CCC Information and Communication Technology and Instructional Material Accessibility Standard [PDF]
- Updated Guidance on the Chancellor’s Office’s Systemwide Prioritization for Real-time Captioning and Closed Caption Support
FAQs
Board Policy
Board policies (BP) help shape broad institutional goals and influence compliant decision making. Administrative procedures (AP) provide more specific details regarding specific technology and accessibility standards. Colleges should use both policies and procedures to improve ICT accessibility for their campus communities.
The Community College League of California has issued updated board policy and administrative procedure guidance for technology accessibility. Please refer to Board Policy 3725 / Administrative Procedure 3725 - Information and Communications Technology Accessibility & Acceptable Use for a draft of these policies and procedures.
Board policy for the General Institution can set expectations regarding the institutional approach to ICT accessibility whereas administrative procedures under the General Institution section can provide additional guidance and identify standards specific to website accessibility and other IT-related systems.
College Examples
- College of the Desert Board Policy 3725 [pdf]
- College of the Desert Administrative Procedure 3725 [pdf]
- Santa Barbara City College Board Policy 3725 [pdf]
- Santa Barbara City College Administrative Procedure 3725 [pdf]
Section 508 Standards
The Section 508 Standards applies to information and communications technology procured by the federal government. California has adopted the accessibility requirements of the Section 508 standards via California Government Code 7405.
The Section 508 standards have been “refreshed” to update and harmonize these standards with other internationally accepted criteria. As part of this refresh process, the revised Section 508 standards now reference the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Level A and Level AA, criteria as the accessibility standard for web content, non-web documents, and software.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provides information on how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. The WCAG documentation is organized around four principles for Web accessibility, called POUR:
- Perceivable
- Operable
- Understandable
- Robust
These four principles provide the framework for guidelines, success criteria, and sufficient and advisory techniques. These additional informational components work in concert to provide guidance and direction for ensuring web content is accessible to individuals with disabilities.