Accessibility Plan

Update for July 2025 - September 2025

CDE is committed to providing equitable access to all Coloradans. Our ongoing accessibility effort works towards the day when all Agency services, programs, and activities are accessible, providing equal access to information and services to all Coloradans.

We have a plan to prioritize, evaluate, remediate, and continuously improve every digital touchpoint within our services, programs, and activities. Below, you’ll find just some of the measures that CDE is undertaking.

Accessibility Goals and Strategies

CDE’s goals and strategies are designed to adapt to the evolving needs of the public, employees, and stakeholders, while ensuring full compliance with all applicable state and federal laws. The key components of our strategy, outlined below, include:

FY 2025/26 Goals:

Provide specific leadership-focused accessibility training to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
Increase accessibility compliance in published content
Finalize Digital Accessibility Policy

Accessibility Policy and Procedure Development

We are focused on establishing clear standards, guidelines, procedures, and policies that reinforce and advance our commitment to accessibility.

Staff Accessibility Training and Support

We are developing and sharing resources, training, and tools to support staff in their accessibility work. This includes guidance on best practices, legal requirements, procurement processes, and content creation.

Procurement Guidelines, Vendor Engagement, and Accessibility Compliance

Through consistent communication, documentation, and collaboration, we ensure that vendors and partners understand and are able to meet our accessibility expectations.

General Accessibility Support

Phone: 303-866-6600
Accessibility Contact Form

Accessibility Maturity

CDE has a plan to prioritize, evaluate, remediate, and continuously improve every digital touchpoint within our services, programs, and activities.

Milestones

January 2022 - CDE creates a core accessibility project team.
March 2024 - CDE hires a third-party vendor to manually test all major IT systems to identify accessibility barriers.
August 2024 -
- CDE engages in the successful recruitment of a Digital Accessibility Manager to oversee its digital equity efforts.
- CDE conducts an internal digital accessibility gap analysis using a survey and achieves response rates that meet industry benchmarks.
September 2024 - CDE obtains an enterprise license for Grackle (Google suite automated accessibility checker).
November 2024 -
- CDE implements required digital accessibility training for all new employees as part of the onboarding process.
- CDE begins hosting weekly accessibility office hours to all CDE staff.
December 2024 - CDE launches a required annual digital accessibility training for all CDE staff.
January 2025 - CDE hires a third-party document remediation vendor to remediate high-touchpoint documents.
February 2025 - CDE launches the digital accessibility procurement process for contract managers.

Progress by Asset Type

Websites

CDE uses two platforms for websites: Drupal and FinalSite (hard launch, summer 2025). CDE contributes content to these platforms and website accessibility compliance is managed in a three-step process:

All new content is created in an accessible manner. Content accessibility is reviewed through manual and automated accessibility checks by the content creator.
When the content is ready to be uploaded, web content coordinators do a final content accessibility review before it is posted.
Content is scanned through Siteimprove and identified barriers to accessibility are reviewed and remediated.

Below are our accessibility numbers as reported by Siteimprove for the CDE-owned public websites:

Please note: CDE is migrating to a new website platform. Updated accessibility scores will be reported September 2025.

Applications

CDE has a variety of web applications in use including subscription-based services, custom vendor-developed solutions, and CDE-developed solutions. In situations in which full compliance is not feasible, CDE has implemented a robust accommodation process to ensure users who need access have an equally effective alternative. Below are some of the steps undertaken by CDE:

Inventory all digital applications: in progress
Collect and review VPATs/ACRs: complete and ongoing (~62 VPATs collected FY2025/26)
Produce VPAT Review and Approval Reports: in progress (62 reports completed)
Create individual accommodation plans for each product that is not fully compliant: in progress

Documents

CDE produces a wide range of documents and resources to support educators, families, and the public. We are committed to accessibility and have a plan in place to ensure these materials meet compliance standards and are inclusive to all. Below are some of the steps undertaken by CDE:

Address document compliance through:
- Inventory management - Staff routinely reviews and evaluates inactive documents for archiving or deletion to ensure that only the most current and relevant resources are available. Inventory existing and new documents and implement an agency-wide progress tracking system for documents.
- Ensure staff training for common types of documents.
- Creating accessible documents from the start - All new documents are created in an accessible manner.
- Remediating high-touchpoint documents - Staff continue to review and remediate documents that have a high-touchpoint.
- Reviewing legacy content for remediation - Staff reviews legacy content and remediate documents as time allows.

Organizational Measures

CDE is currently coordinating the following efforts to remove technology accessibility barriers:

Activity	Status
Define an accessibility roadmap including timeline, goals, roles, responsibilities, and policies as needed for our organization.	Ongoing
Include accessibility in our procurement processes.	Ongoing
Establish and maintain an inventory of technology products and systems.	Ongoing
Validate the inventory through testing and address issues that are found in current technology.	Ongoing
Create and implement a plan for providing reasonable accommodation and modification until the technology can be made accessible.	Ongoing
Provide contact information and support for receiving accessibility feedback and accommodations requests.	Completed
Hire people with accessibility skills and train current employees on providing accessible services and technology.	Ongoing
Incorporate accessibility requirements into our technology development stages including design, development, user experience, and quality assurance.	Ongoing

Next Steps

CDE will continue to offer staff tools, resources, and training opportunities to help expand their accessibility knowledge and skills.
CDE will continue to review and remediate active, high-touchpoint documents to ensure they meet accessibility standards.
CDE will continue to work with vendors and internal staff to identify processes and alternatives to replace inaccessible solutions.