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Temple University Center for Research
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Section 508 is a federal law that is directed at federal employees and federal purchasing decisions. However, some state legislatures are using Section 508 requirements as the basis for state legislation regarding the purchase of electronic and information technology. For instance, Kentucky passed legislation in April 2000 (KRS 61.980 to 61.988) requiring school systems to comply with Section 508 when purchasing and implementing information technology (Kentucky Accessible Information Technology Statute, 2000). California requires that school districts detail Section 508 compliance in their technology plans. However, this legislation is not enforced and technology plans are not currently written using Section 508 language. California legislation also requires that publishers produce e-texts. Legislation is pending in California requiring that developers and vendors use some universal design principles. In 1999, Arkansas passed legislation requiring that educational technology purchases be accessible to blind students.
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MAR*TEC Accessibility Toolkit
The MAR*TEC accessibility checklist helps educators consider the accessibility of instructional software. It is based on 508 software standards and is a collaborative repository. Thus, it helps districts prevent "recreating the wheel" syndrome. Because it is online, the data is available anytime and anywhere there is an Internet connection. In addition, the MAR*TEC accessibility checklist is written in natural language and built on educator reviews rather than vendor promises.
MAR*TEC staff found that the legalistic language of Section 508 was difficult for educators to understand and therefore was an obstacle for them in evaluating whether software met the accessibility requirements. For instance, Section 508 states, "When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually." Consequently, MAR*TEC "translated" the legal language into a checklist written in normal English with hyperlinks back to the original 508 standards. For instance, the requirement cited earlier was translated as follows: "The student can successfully operate this software without a mouse, by using only a keyboard. This means that the student can navigate through the software, select options, and give the software commands such as 'print' and 'save' without using a mouse." MAR*TEC staff found that by using this checklist teachers could more easily understand the requirements and could competently review a piece of software.
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