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As part of Technical Plan, item i in evaluation section: Adequacy of proposed logistical arrangements, including a clear understanding of federal laws and regulations for undertaking all aspects of the work, particularly for convening federal sponsored meetings and Section 508 Compliance (NAEP ALS RFP p. 57 of 72) Assuring Section 508 Compliance for all Project Deliverables: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that federal agencies’ electronic and information technology be accessible to people with disabilities. WestEd is committed to aligning documentation to the same standards set for the Federal Government. Over the last year, WestEd has had ample experience delivering 508-‐compliant documents to the Massachusetts Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, samples of which may be viewed at this URL:
• http://www.doe.mass.edu/edeval/ddm/example/ (MA-‐DDM) • http://www.doe.mass.edu/cte/ (MA-‐CVTE URL TBD)
Structural formatting is an essential element of accessible digital content. Structural formatting describes the purpose of the text, allows readers to scan through and identify content, and supports better understanding of the author’s message. Structured Word documents are also more likely to be accessible to other types of technology (like search engines) and are more likely to be accessible when converted to other file types, like HTML or PDF. WestEd implements a document standards protocol that requires authors to use project-‐specific document templates, typically in programs such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Acrobat Professional that have been designed to implement structured formatting using Styles. Deliverable files will be generated in both native format and in Portable Document Format (PDF). Document Preparation and Remediation In general, the core use of the Portable Document Format is to ensure that a document looks the same online as it does in print form. This includes ensuring maximum cross-‐platform and cross-‐program compatibility without requiring users to install specialized fonts or rely on underlying operating system packages. An accessible version of the Acrobat document can be held to the same standard – a document is considered accessible if assistive technologies can provide the same information provided visually in the document. This information is provided via a tag structure format packaged within the document that represents the document’s visual and structural components. The fundamental requirement for an accessible and compliant PDF document is that the document tag structure fully represents the visual information provided by the document itself. The process to determine this requires an individual to review each page in the document to ensure that it conforms to all the accessibility requirements and modify the tag structure of the page when required to ensure compliance. This leads to a relatively straightforward workflow for remediating any given document:
• The document is received by WestEd PMP and escrowed in the NAEP Deliverables Remediation Workflow folder in the project folder on Box.com.
• Tags are added to the file using the project standard version of Adobe Acrobat Professional. • Each page in the document is validated against the final PDF document checklist.
o Any items that are not in compliance are remediated. An example of this is provided in the Example Remediation Activity section of this document.
o Any remediation items are noted in the remediation report. • The overall document is validated against the final PDF document checklist.
o Any items that are not in compliance are remediated.
o Any remediation items are noted in the remediation report. • A copy of the remediated document is saved to the workflow infrastructure. • The remediated document and a copy of the remediation report are delivered to NAGB.
Accessibility requirements include a variety of different compliance requirements when applied to PDF, Microsoft Word & Excel, InDesign, and PowerPoint files. NAGB should be aware that no legally binding set of PDF accessibility requirements are currently defined by the U.S. Access Board, thus some latitude can be applied in the manner in which WestEd chooses to develop PDF documents to conform to the Section 508 requirements. The exact set of best practices that are relevant to NAGB will be developed as an outcome of the initial project assessment activities, defining a concise set of accessibility requirements for the remediating activity. Example Remediation Activity As an example, assume that a document is in violation of the best practice “Provide alternative text for images.” To address this issue, the document author must add appropriate alternative text for images within the Tag tree element's Properties window or with the Touch Up Reading Order Tool. To do so:
• Open the Touch-‐up Properties dialog • Select the relevant image in the document • Place the text in the "alternative text" field and ensure it is a concise and meaningful replacement
for the image. For example, when describing a picture of a red balloon, entering "red balloon" will be more helpful than "This is a picture of a red balloon."
• Close the Touch-‐up Properties dialog and then save the document. If the image does not convey any meaning, such as a spacer image or separation line, or is redundant to adjacent text, the element may be defined as an Artifact element in the tags tree. Making an image an Artifact in Acrobat has essentially the same justification and criteria as giving an IMG tag a null alt (alt="") in HTML. Both methods allow assistive technologies to reliably ignore such images. Domain Knowledge Requirements As part of the document remediating process, it is often the case that content requires input and guidance from domain experts to be properly remediated. For example, providing a proper alternative for a text image may require interaction with the document author to determine the purpose of the image, formulaic and psychometric recommendations may require access to assessment specialist and the correct pronunciation of technical terms, acronyms, and proper names may require author interaction to ensure the document remains appropriate to the audience. In addition, document structure, including heading, bookmarks and inner-‐document navigation features provided in PDF, need to be exposed in a fashion that supports the overall use of the document as intended. For these knowledge domain requirements, WestEd PMP will work directly with relevant members of the project team to determine what content needs to be provided by authors to properly remediate documents. As this domain knowledge is provided, WestEd PMP will update and extend the project PDF style guide to capture the knowledge and share it across the project. This ensures that as information is provided, it is captured and applied in a continuous process improvement loop allowing the remediation activities to rely less on technical resources over time. Delivery and Secondary Remediation Work Once a remediated document has been delivered, NAGB may choose to perform a regression test and review of the document to determine its level of accessibility. Based on the test results, stakeholders can
then make a decision to release the document or pursue further remediation. If additional changes are required, WestEd PMP will complete these and resubmit a document for secondary review. Remediation Report For all documents provided under this contract, WestEd PMP will provide to NAGB and the COR a remediation report that details the changes that have been made to the document, the location of the changes and the best practices the changes were applied to ensure conformance with. These remediation reports will be escrowed in Box.com as part of the NAEP Deliverables Remediation Workflow documentation. This will allow the project two keys pieces of functionality. First, reports can be provided at no additional cost to each document author to define the specific set of issues that required remediation in their documents. This provides concise direction to authors on what issues should be addressed in subsequent document development as well as the specific methods for providing these items. Second, the workflow allows for compliance trends to be tracked over time and across different authors. This provides for easy identification of concepts that require further training, investment or management attention. It also provides a method for justifying the investment into accessibility in terms of specific, quantified improvements in the level of compliance of publications and documents.