Advancement · School Operations

Check it before families
and students try to use it.

Run twelve checks keyed to WCAG 2.1 AA on anything the school is about to publish, record the scan and the lowest contrast, and decide: ready, fix first, or release with known issues, a fix date and another way to get the content meanwhile.

Check a releaseWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the School operations toolkit, $49 for 32 items.

Release checks

The worked example is three made-up releases: an enrollment form that must be fixed first, a board meeting video with uncorrected captions and a handbook PDF that is ready. Checks stay in this browser.

Loading the release check form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Advancement · School Operations$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A check per release with what it is, the kind, owner, release date and check date; twelve checks marked Pass, Fail or N/A with their WCAG criteria; automated scan errors and the lowest contrast; the decision; known issues with criterion and fix date and an alternative way to get the content; flags for contrast under 4.5:1, a ready decision with failed checks, known issues without a date or alternative, and a clean scan with no screen reader check; counts by decision.
Who it is for
School and district communications staff, web and technology coordinators, instructional designers and anyone who publishes for families and students.
Format
Browser checklist with any number of saved checks. Prints one check, all checks or a blank checklist; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the School operations toolkit ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The School Operations space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Start a check a few days before the release date.
  2. Run an automated scan and enter the error count, then measure the lowest text contrast.
  3. Work through the twelve checks with a keyboard, a phone and a screen reader.
  4. Decide: ready, fix first, or release with known issues.
  5. For known issues, set a fix date and say how people can get the content another way meanwhile.

Check a release

Contrast, the most common failure

Contrast against a white pageAa4.5:1Gray on white, the lightest gray that passesAa3.0:1Passes only for large textAa1.9:1Placeholder gray: failsAa6.2:1Brand blue on white: passesContrast against a white pageAa4.5:1Gray on white, the lightest gray…Aa3.0:1Passes only for large textAa1.9:1Placeholder gray: failsAa6.2:1Brand blue on white: passes
Ratios are approximate and rounded. Measure your own colors with a contrast checker; placeholder text in forms is the most common failure.

The federal rule

In 2024 the Department of Justice adopted a rule under Title II of the ADA requiring state and local governments, including public schools, to make web content and mobile apps meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with compliance dates in 2026 and 2027 depending on the size and type of the public entity. Section 504 and Title II already required equal access to school communications.

Tools and people

Automated scanners catch missing alternative text, low contrast and empty links quickly, but they miss whether alternative text makes sense, whether captions are accurate and whether a form can be finished by keyboard. That is why the checklist pairs a scan with a keyboard pass and a screen reader spot check.

Sources

  1. World Wide Web Consortium. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, W3C Recommendation (2018; updated 2023).
  2. U.S. Department of Justice. Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities, final rule, 28 CFR Part 35 Subpart H (2024).
  3. World Wide Web Consortium, Web Accessibility Initiative. Easy Checks: A First Review of Web Accessibility (w3.org/WAI).
  4. U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. Resources on accessible websites and digital content under Section 504 and Title II (ed.gov/ocr).

The worked example is made up. This checklist covers common WCAG 2.1 AA checks; it is not a full conformance audit or legal advice. Checks stay on this device until you print or export them. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.