Website Accessibility Statement
Virtual Virginia is committed to providing access to this website for visitors with differing needs.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that individuals with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the information provided to visitors who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed. Learn more about Section 508.
To honor this commitment and to adhere to Section 508 requirements, Virtual Virginia’s website is designed to be accessible by a variety of users with different needs. Moving forward, we will continually work to improve the website’s accessibility, usability, and readability. If you encounter a problem viewing or accessing any information on virtualvirginia.org, please contact VVA Support at [email protected]. When contacting us by email, please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which you want to receive any materials, and your contact information.
ADA Compliance in VVA Courses
As Virtual Virginia content is developed and revised, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 are implemented and content is reviewed under Specific Review Standard 7.4 T of the Quality Matters K–12 Rubric. Virtual Virginia conducts routine automated and human checks of content and is implementing WCAG 2.1 guidelines as part of the course development process.
Virtual Virginia content is developed to be accessible for individuals with a variety of disabilities and is compatible with most assistive technologies, such as screen reader software and closed captioning. Virtual Virginia utilizes the ReadSpeaker App, which supports students needing a read aloud accommodation for course content and assessments. The ReadSpeaker app supports Virtual Virginia content in a variety of languages (English, French, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Spanish). Canvas Studio supports closed captioning for Virtual Virginia video content in a variety of languages.
Students who are enrolled in and attending a Virginia public school may enroll in a Virtual Virginia course with prior approval of the local school and must be enrolled by a local school counselor or other school-assigned designee. The local school agrees to provide all appropriate services to students enrolled in Virtual Virginia courses, including those with documented disabilities. The local school agrees to provide a local school counselor, a local mentor, all student services, and all counseling services for each student enrolled in a Virtual Virginia course. Virtual Virginia does not assume the local school responsibility to provide Section 504, IEP, or other documented services for students enrolled in Virtual Virginia courses. The local school may require the student’s local school mentor to have an appropriate certified endorsement to provide any documented student services.
In the Virtual Virginia registration process, school counselors are asked to identify qualified students with documented disabilities in the Virtual Virginia Student Information System (SIS) by indicating if the student has a Section 504, IEP, or other documented services. For students with Section 504, IEP, or other documented services, the school counselor and local mentor must develop a plan for the local school to address the documented student services and share any appropriate accommodations needed in the Virtual Virginia learning management system prior to the course start date. Local school counselors and mentors are required to provide all students with services to ensure student success in the Virtual Virginia course. In the event of any complaint, the local school will assume the recipient responsibilities.
Vendor Accessibility Statements
Canvas strives for WCAG 2.1 Level A/AA and Section 508 conformance. Regular testing (both internal and by a third party) is conducted to identify conformance issues, with processes in place for timely remediation of accessibility issues that are identified. Canvas has been evaluated by Instructure and WebAIM according to WCAG 2.1 standards and has been found to be largely conformant. Testing is regularly conducted using automated tools, assistive technology (such as screen readers, keyboard testing, etc.), and coding best practices. Third-party accessibility evaluation occurs semi-annually with internal audits conducted with each release. Mechanisms are in place for logging and fixing accessibility defects. Please see Instructure’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for full details.