Eight Steps to Achieve ADA Title II Compliance in Higher Education

Author: Level Access

In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a new rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This rule sets clear digital accessibility requirements for state and local government organizations, including public colleges and universities.

If you work in public higher education, any digital content associated with your programs, activities, or student experience must conform with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level A and AA criteria by the April 2026 deadline (or April 2027 for smaller organizations).

This is no small feat. For institutions with decades worth of legacy resources, constant content churn, and decentralized accessibility ownership, compliance can feel overwhelming.

So where do you start? This blog outlines a practical roadmap to help your institution meet ADA Title II requirements—and sustain accessibility long-term.

Practical steps to achieve compliance with ADA Title II

No matter the challenges your institution is facing, ADA Title II compliance is well within reach—with the right plan in place. The eight steps below outline a practical roadmap for building a sustainable, campus-wide digital accessibility strategy. We’ll also explain how the Level Access solution can support you every step of the way.

1. Understand and plan.

The first step toward compliance with the DOJ’s new rule is building a clear and concrete plan. Map out what needs to be done—and who’s responsible for doing it.

Begin by identifying the scope of your institution’s digital assets. The rule applies to far more than your main website. Include your learning management system (LMS) platforms, student portals, financial aid systems, intranets, and other digital services that support academic and campus life in your planning.

Once you understand the scope of work ahead, prioritize assets based on usage, impact, and risk. A thoughtful risk analysis helps identify which areas have the greatest legal exposure or user impact—so teams can focus their efforts where it matters most.

How we can help

Our accessibility experts partner with institutions to take a strategic, comprehensive approach to digital accessibility. That includes:

• Identifying which digital assets fall under ADA Title II (and other U.S. and international laws and guidelines).
• Supporting prioritization efforts
• Advising on sustainable practices that fit into your existing operations.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all workflow, we help teams build processes that embed accessibility into day-to-day work—laying the groundwork for long-term compliance and continuous improvement.

2. Set up monitoring across your digital assets.

Digital accessibility isn’t a one-time effort. New risks can be introduced every time your institution updates a site, adds a new portal, or uploads course materials. That’s why consistent monitoring is essential.

Monitoring tools run automated scans on a regular schedule, giving web teams a clear understanding of accessibility progress across departmental sites and digital properties. Over time, monitoring reveals trends in accessibility health, helping you spot improvements, catch regressions early, and plan next steps based on real data.

How we can help

Level Access’s monitoring capabilities can provide AI-powered summaries after each scan, showing key changes in risk status along with practical recommendations to help teams stay on track.

3. Implement automated remediation.

Bringing your digital assets into conformance with WCAG 2.1 A and AA may take time, but there’s one step you can take right away to make immediate improvements to users’ experience.

Automated remediation tools deliver instant impact by scanning live sites and fixing many common issues in real time, helping institutions make rapid progress while longer-term compliance and usability strategies are still being developed and implemented.

How we can help

As part of our comprehensive approach, our automated remediation technology identifies and resolves many common accessibility issues—empowering your institution to make visible, immediate improvements while you continue working through more complex challenges that require manual intervention.

4. Obtain manual accessibility testing.

Automated tools are powerful, but they can’t catch everything. Manual testing fills the gaps, revealing complex and context-dependent accessibility barriers that automation can miss—like broken keyboard navigation, missing form labels, or confusing user flows.

By testing key pages and tasks with assistive technologies, accessibility experts can understand how real users experience your digital environments—from course registration to accessing learning materials—and provide clear guidance on what needs fixing.

How we can help

Our team of professional testers—including individuals with disabilities—will evaluate your institution’s digital experiences using assistive technology, delivering accurate and actionable results. The findings from this manual testing will give you a clearer understanding of the most critical accessibility issues in your digital assets and help you prioritize the areas that need attention first.

5. Train your teams.

Accessibility isn’t just a developer’s job; it’s everyone’s responsibility. From content authors and social media managers to designers and IT professionals, each person who creates or updates digital content plays a role in keeping online assets accessible.

Training builds the awareness and skills needed to fix existing issues and prevent new ones. The most effective programs offer role-specific learning through your institution’s LMS, helping faculty and staff build a shared baseline of best practices.

How we can help

The Level Access Academy offers live and self-paced courses for professionals across the academic community, covering both foundational concepts and practical, skill-based lessons for roles like designers, developers, and content authors. When every contributor understands how their work affects accessibility, inclusive design becomes second nature.

6. Contact your vendors about third-party product accessibility.

Accessibility isn’t limited to internal teams. Most institutions rely on third-party vendors for LMS platforms, event systems, and library databases. Under ADA Title II, your institution is still responsible for their accessibility.

This is why it’s essential to make accessibility part of every vendor conversation. Request a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) report to ensure any products you’ve purchased conform with WCAG 2.1 A and AA. You’ll also need to evaluate the accessibility of any new products prior to procurement.

How we can help

Our experts can help you understand whether third-party digital products you’re currently using may present compliance risks—and provide guidance on how to work with vendors to address accessibility issues. We’ll also support you in making more informed, responsible purchasing decisions by advising on what to ask vendors, how to evaluate accessibility claims (including reviewing VPAT reports) and how to assess a vendor’s overall commitment to accessibility.

7. Embed accessibility in your experience creation process.

Academic programs, student services, and campus systems are continually evolving—and so are the digital experiences used to support them. It’s essential that your teams have the resources to ensure accessibility keeps pace with these updates.

While training is a strong foundation, teams need the right tools to identify and fix accessibility issues early—before they affect users or put your institution’s compliance at risk. A variety of tools are available to help professionals proactively integrate accessibility into their workflows—like design plug-ins, software development kits (SDKs), and document accessibility checkers.

Alongside effective tooling, involving people with disabilities in your design and research process will help you shape more accessible content, services, and platforms.

How we can help

The Level Access Platform offers a wide range of tools and services for embedding accessibility into teams’ day-to-day work, including:

• Developer tools: Our versatile developer tools, including our software development kits (SDKs) and browser extension, allow teams to test and remediate accessibility issues throughout the development life cycle.
• Designer tools: Designers can use our Figma plugin to proactively identify potential accessibility barriers during the design phase. For more in-depth guidance, our Design Evaluations provide detailed feedback on wireframes and concepts from accessibility professionals.
• Document accessibility support: We support content authors with tools, training, and guidance for creating accessible documents and digital materials, such as PDFs, Word documents, and web content.

Additionally, our experts can help your institution explore ways to involve people with disabilities in the design and development process, supporting the creation of more inclusive campus systems and content.

8. Track and report progress.

As you address the accessibility issues surfaced through monitoring and manual evaluations, you’ll want to track your progress. Keeping tabs on your digital assets’ accessibility can help you identify areas in which your efforts are succeeding, and opportunities for improvement.

For example, a district’s K-12 school system may find that certain schools’ websites are on track to conform with WCAG 2.1 AA, but others require more attention. Understanding these gaps helps accessibility leaders direct resources where they’re needed most.

How we can help

Our platform’s intuitive reporting dashboards help you monitor changes in the accessibility of your entire collection of digital assets. Use our program dashboard to get a high-level view of how your institution’s accessibility program is performing overall.

The dashboard offers a quick, clear snapshot of progress across your entire accessibility program, allowing you to identify where to focus remediation, training, and other efforts. With a week-over-week timeline view, you can drill down from the tenant level to specific workspaces and digital assets, gaining deeper insight into what’s driving progress or creating barriers across your institution.

Start your journey to ADA Title II compliance

With 25 years of experience, Level Access helps colleges and universities meet ADA Title II requirements through scalable technology, training, and expertise.

No matter the number of digital assets you manage or your institution’s prior experience with accessibility, we’ll help you stay ahead of the 2026 deadline and provide an inclusive experience for every student. Contact our team today to start building your compliance plan.