The National Center on School Infrastructure (NCSI) is committed to providing a fully accessible website experience for all users of all abilities, including those who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers, screen enlargement software, and alternative keyboard input devices to navigate the web.

We follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 as our guiding principle for determining accessibility. These are internationally agreed-upon standards that cover a wide range of recommendations and best practices for making content useable. As we add new pages and functionality to our website, all designs, code, and content entry practices are checked against these standards.

Website accessibility is an ongoing process. We continually test content and features for WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance and remediate any issues to ensure we meet or exceed the standards. Testing of our website is performed by our team members using industry-standard tools such as the Accessibility Checker WordPress Plugin, color contrast analyzers, keyboard-only navigation techniques, and Flesch-Kincaid readability tests.

The following is a list of items we have included in our website to improve its accessibility:

Navigation and Structure

• Skip Links: Skip-to-main-content and skip-to-results links are available for keyboard users
• Semantic HTML: Proper heading structure (H1-H6) and semantic markup throughout the site
• Landmark Roles: Navigation, main, banner, and search landmarks are properly identified
• Breadcrumb Navigation: Clear navigation paths for all pages

Keyboard Navigation

• Full Keyboard Access: All interactive elements are accessible via keyboard navigation
• Focus Management: Visible focus indicators and logical tab order throughout the site
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Arrow key navigation for tabs, pagination, and menu systems
• Escape Key Support: Modal dialogs and menus can be closed using the Escape key

Screen Reader Support

• ARIA Labels: Comprehensive ARIA labeling for complex interactive elements
• Live Regions: Dynamic content updates are announced to screen readers
• Screen Reader Text: Hidden descriptive text for screen reader users
• Form Labels: All form inputs have proper labels and descriptions

Visual Accessibility

• Color Contrast: Text meets WCAG AA contrast requirements
• Focus Indicators: Clear, high-contrast focus outlines on all interactive elements
• Text Resizing: Content remains readable when text is enlarged up to 200%
• Responsive Design: Content adapts to different screen sizes and orientations

Media and Content

• Alt Text: All images include descriptive alternative text
• Video Content: Videos include proper captions and descriptions where applicable
• Links: External links are clearly identified with appropriate text
• Tables: Data tables include proper headers and structure

In our efforts to bring our website up to standard, we are targeting the following areas:

• Third-Party Content: Some embedded content from external sources may not meet our accessibility standards
• Complex Data Visualizations: Some advanced charts or graphs may have limited accessibility

This is part of our broader effort to make everyone’s experience at NCSI a welcoming and enjoyable one. Please note that while we make every effort to provide information accessible for all users, we cannot guarantee the accessibility of third party websites to which we may link.

We welcome comments, questions, and feedback on our website. If you are using assistive technologies and are having difficulty using our website, please email ncsi@berkeley.edu. We will do our best to assist you and resolve issues.