Carteret Community College’s Accessibility Initiative

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Executive Summary

Carteret Community College is committed to fostering an accessible learning environment for every student, employee, and community member. This Accessibility Plan outlines the College’s roadmap for compliance with ADA Title II by April 2026 while embedding accessibility into daily practice across instruction, operations, and communication.

The plan is guided by the 3 C’s framework—Commit, Check, and Correct:

Commit – Establish a culture of accessibility through clear policy, leadership support, employee accountability, and ongoing training.
Check – Audit digital content, websites, instructional materials, and third-party tools against WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
Correct – Remediate barriers, integrate accessibility into procurement, and implement sustainable workflows to maintain compliance.

This plan underscores that accessibility is not a one-time requirement but a living, continuous process. Faculty and staff will be equipped with training, resources, and practical tools to create accessible content and provide equitable access to digital environments.

Through this commitment, Carteret Community College ensures that accessibility remains central to its mission of serving and empowering students and the Carteret County community, now and in the future.

Accessibility Policy

Carteret Community College is committed to creating and maintaining information and communication technology and e-learning environments that are accessible to all faculty, staff, students, and the public. These environments include the College's computer and network access and services, electronically delivered or enhanced instruction, electronic library information resources and web applications, campus web sites, electronic communication and documents, and administrative services. For web content accessibility, the College has adopted WCAG 2.1 AA standards but strives to meet the highest technical standards. To fulfill this commitment, the College will procure, develop, and deploy information and communication technology and e-learning resources and systems that are welcoming to, accessible to, and useable by everyone, including people with disabilities.

Goals

Carteret Community College endeavors to serve and empower our students and the coastal community by providing an innovative and inclusive learning environment. The College is committed to creating an accessible environment for all learners.

Goals: The 3 C’s: Commit, Check, and Correct

Information regarding the definition of accessibility, legal requirements and the relationship to electronic information and resources is available to all Carteret CC employees. (Commit)
The importance of providing accessible information, instruction and services is communicated to all Carteret CC employees from both legal and ethical perspectives. (Commit)
Relevant training and support services are available to all Carteret CC employees. (Commit)
All information and communication technology are evaluated for accessibility and corrected or replaced when necessary. (Check)
Carteret Community College will develop processes to ensure accessibility during procurement of new electronic resources and systems and renewals of current resources. (Correct)
All information and communication technology will be compliant with the standards outlined in WCAG 2.1 Level AA. (Correct)
The College will develop processes to sustain compliance. (Correct, Check, & Commit)

Expectations of Employees - Commit

All digital media must conform to WCAG 2.1 AA technical standards. All employees are responsible for the accessibility of digital content they create and/or procure. It is the policy and practice of Carteret Community College to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.Employees have a shared responsibility to:

Proactively remove barriers in materials, technologies, and assessments.
Adhere to the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Adhere to WCAG 2.1 AA technical standards as a minimum standard.
Regularly evaluate materials from various accessibility perspectives and remediate accessibility barriers.
Ensure full participation opportunities for students, employees, and community members.
Stay informed about accessibility standards and best practices.

Awareness and Support

Carteret Community College is committed to providing accessibility for our academic and business services. The Carteret CC Accessibility Plan establishes clear goals to ensure accessibility is embedded across all areas of campus life. The Accessibility Plan promotes a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement to uphold our commitment to inclusivity and compliance with accessibility standards.

Training & Support

Ongoing training for faculty and staff through workshops, online courses, and shared resources.
Identify a point of contact within departments to report barriers to digital accessibility.
Implement “computer lab” hours where employees can gain a better understanding of accessibility tools, remediation, and content creation.
Ensure accessibility training is part of new employee onboarding for all staff and faculty.
Provide ongoing training on evaluating accessibility as part of the purchasing process.
Provide ongoing support each semester on creating accessible digital content.
Train on accessible document creation for the purpose of creating digitally accessible content across departments.

Audits and Implementation - Check

Faculty and staff are required to assess their current digital content and technologies to identify which ones are still relevant and need prioritization. Auditing digital content within your department using an audit record will help keep a record of compliance. See our Digital Content Audit (link opens in new tab) template for reference. This inventory can be used and adapted to audit the following information within the College’s departments:

Website pages, including all links, documents, and media linked to the site.
Online course content or supplemental websites
- Documents
- Videos
- Images
- Podcasts
- Presentations
Digital documents
Video and audio
Social media
Periodical communications like newsletters
Digital materials purchased by the department

Priority Considerations

Timely compliance should be considered when prioritizing digital content for creation and remediation. Start by identifying content that is high-impact, such as public-facing web pages, essential course materials, and widely used documents. When prioritizing content, keep these factors in mind:

Audience: Public-facing content , student facing content, and content that is viewed broadly by employees must be accessible.
Frequency of Use: Frequently used content should be prioritized.
Impact: Content that affects a larger audience should be prioritized.
Age of Content: Content that is outdated or not used should be deleted or archived. Newly created content should meet compliance technical standards.

Recommendations

The following guidance is intended to assist employees in fulfilling the compliance obligations outlined in Title II of the ADA regarding digital accessibility.

Existing course content, webpages, social media, frequently used internal documents, and social medial should be prioritized for review and remediation.
Archive course content or, social media or documents that are not currently being used or you do not plan to use in the near future for educational purposes or daily internal operations.
Newly developed course content, web content, mobile applications, documents, and social media should be accessible.
Current and existing third-party contracts should be reviewed to verify accessibility or make amendments to terms and conditions if needed.
Future third-party contracts should follow the Carteret CC Procurement Policy that will be released this fall to ensure that digital content meets required technical standards and that all venders provide a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or functional equivalent prior to executing a contract or purchase.

Monitoring and Maintenance - Correct

Carteret CC’s Accessibility Plan was developed to be a long term and living plan to address accessibility barriers, provide inclusive and equitable educational services to all learners, and serve as a guide to employees. The College strives to address both immediate remediation needs and establish workflows that allow for accessibility to remain a priority. Carteret CC remains committed to monitoring and maintaining accessible digital content through ongoing training, support, accountability, and reporting.

Training
- Ensure all existing and new employees receive accessibility training, and complete the Commitment to Accessibility Attestation Statement.
- Provide ongoing training opportunities for employees, including technical assistance.
Support
- Ensure sufficient resources, including technology and policies that support digital accessibility.
- Distribute resource materials to all employees.
Accountability
- Establish regular touchpoints within departments to ensure compliance, priorities, and identify barriers.
- Include accessibility as a part of performance conversations.
Reporting
- Regularly monitor new and existing content for accessibility compliance.
- Implement a review process, content inventory to ensure content is compliance.

Laws and Legislation

The laws that govern website and electronic content and supporting information can be found on the sites linked below and include the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Sections 508 and 504, NC Senate Bill 866, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title II of the ADA.

Federal Resources

State & Higher Education Resources

Practical Tools & Training

Campus Resources (Internal documents/resources)

Accessibility Training Modules (Moodle/SharePoint)
Digital Content Audit Template (SharePoint)
Procurement Policy for Accessible Technology (to be released Fall 2025)
Carteret CC Digital Accessibility Compliance Online Learning Accessibility Checklist (link opens in new tab)

Department Responsibilities

1. Compliance & Monitoring Functions

Function	Student Services	Academic Depts & Instruction Support	Distance Learning	Office of the President	Marketing	IT
Use built-in website functionality to scan for compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines		X			X	X
Implement quarterly manual checks for website compliance (including linked media, documents, and hyperlinks)		X			X	X
Ensure social media accounts meet compliance	X	X			X
Ensure digital public communications meet compliance	X	X	X	X	X	X
Accessibility review of online course content		X	X
Accessibility review of seated and hybrid course content		X
Transfer digital forms (e.g., DocuSign) to accessible formats	X	X	X	X	X	X
Identify scope of library online content for future evaluation		X	X
Evaluate all library online content for compliance		X	X
Coordinate with Bookstore vendor to ensure new materials meet accessibility standards	X	X				X
Establish procurement policy for third-party digital materials						X
Partner with IT to provide assistive technology-equipped computers	X	X				X
Annual auditing and assessment of accessibility (by function/technology)	X	X	X	X	X	X

2. Training & Support Functions

Function	Student Services	Academic Depts & Instruction Support	Distance Learning	Office of the President	IT
Ongoing training for faculty and staff (workshops, self-paced training, resources).	X	X	X	X
Provide Assistive Technology training (Screen Reader, Magnification, etc.)				X	X
Provide compliance verification resources to students, employees, and the public	X	X			X
Maintain and update employee Accessibility Course				X	X