The U.S. Department of Education is committed to making its electronic and information technologies accessible to individuals with disabilities by meeting or exceeding the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended in 1998. Section 508 is a federal law that requires agencies to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to electronic information and data comparable to those who do not have disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. The Section 508 Standards are the technical requirements and criteria that are used to measure conformance within this law. More information on Section 508 and the technical standards can be found at GSA, Section 508 and the US Access Board.
Our web pages are designed to meet or exceed the Section 508 standards, which are the technical requirements that ensure we’re complying with federal Section 508 law. We also conform to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and their industry standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 . We meet Level AA standards, which means our content is accessible to most people in most circumstances. We continually modify our websites to ensure the information, features and content are accessible to persons with disabilities.
Denise McGland can answer any questions about our implementation of 508 policy or guidelines.
If you experience difficulty accessing any resources or content on this site, please contact us via email and include:
We will work diligently to provide you with accessible content that addresses your issues.
We offer reasonable accommodations for federal employees and job applicants, consistent with Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act. Please contact Kenton Stalder, Reasonable Accommodations Program Manager.
Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) allow persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or have speech disabilities to communicate by telephone in a manner that is functionally equivalent to telephone services used by persons without such disabilities. List of TRS services (FCC.gov)
Our agency exists to support other agencies in achieving their missions by providing policy, services, workspace, and contracting vehicles for procuring products and services. This is our approach to leveraging the capabilities of the internet and world wide web.
Information Technology Accessibility Program - pending
Links to applets, plug-ins, or other applications required to access content provided on our web pages are available and linked below. Most of these links are to non-government sources. We do not endorse any of these products; they are provided for your convenience. Address questions about a particular plug-in or file viewer to the respective vendor.
The Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) requires access to facilities that are designed, built, altered, or leased by or on behalf of the Federal government. The Access Board is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the ABA. The Access Board's accessibility standards are available on their website at www.access-board.gov/aba/ufas.html and information about filing a complaint may be found at www.access-board.gov/enforcement.