Help Center

Accessibility

At QuaverEd, Inc. we recognize and value the diverse needs of every student. Our mission is to meet all users where they are, regardless of their learning style or access needs. We believe in providing multiple methods of interacting with content across our curricula for both students and teachers.

Ongoing Efforts to Ensure Accessible Content #

QuaverEd is committed to meeting standards and requirements of the Federal government, as described in the Federal Rehabilitation Act, Section 508. We are also dedicated to achieving Level AA compliance with the World Wide Web Consortium guidelines, as described in W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1).

Features and Enhancements that Support Accessibility #

Although Quaver resources are generally created to be presented by teachers to their students, WCAG guidelines help provide an accessible learning environment for all users. Our content already contains many features that support accessibility. These include:

Screen Controls #

  • Brightness/contrast controls are available from the system settings and will not be overridden by the program
  • Start/Pause/Stop buttons are available for all time-sensitive content
  • Volume controls are provided to increase the audio amplitude of different tracks
  • Functionality controls are consistently named and located in the same place on every screen
  • When a control is activated, there are visual and audio indications the action is being taken

Screen Layouts #

  • Plain language is used throughout the program
  • Layouts are logically and consistently arranged
  • Context and orientation language for the curriculum is provided in the Teacher Notes
  • All icons and actionable buttons are large and accompanied by text, unless the control is a commonly-used standard, such as a triangle for a play button
  • Color is not the sole determinant of required information

Video/Animations #

  • All videos with speaking audio have closed captioning
  • Keywords are also highlighted in text in video episodes
  • Animations that need explaining are also described in text

Audio/Music Tracks #

  • Lyrics are highlighted and synchronized in songs
  • Visual Animations are provided
  • Transcripts of audio instruction or other information are provided

Notifications #

  • All notifications of correct or incorrect answers are provided both aurally and textually
  • Our design minimizes unintentional actions by the user

Flashing Objects #

  • No buttons or other objects will flash at a rate between 2Hz and 55Hz

Third-Party Services #

QuaverEd is not responsible for accessibility compliance for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any other third-party vendor.

Let’s Talk Accessibility #

We encourage and welcome feedback from our customers. Let us know if you’ve encountered accessibility barriers or have suggestions or ideas on how we can improve. Contact our Customer Service Department at (866) 917-3633, Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Central, or at info@QuaverEd.com.

For more information, please see our accessibility FAQ’s below:

Accessibility FAQ #

Overview #

To be accessible means to remove barriers for people with disabilities. In order to make a web page or digital content accessible, it means making sure that the content is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Accessible content is as consistent and equally available as non-accessible content. Users of QuaverEd curricula can identify content using their senses, access controls, buttons, navigation, and other interactive elements; comprehend our content; and use our content on many different devices (PC, Mac, Chromebook, mobile device, and more).

The term a11y stands for “accessibility.” It is a numeronym, with “11” representing the number of letters between the letter “a” and the letter “y” in the word “accessibility.” When read aloud, “a11y” is usually pronounced as “accessibility,” “A-one-one-Y,” or “A-eleven-Y.”

Yes! QuaverEd lessons are designed to be accessible for both students and educators. The curriculum includes features such as printable transcripts, audio descriptions, and keyboard navigation for use by all QuaverEd users. Accordingly, all lesson screens accessed from the Teacher Dashboard, by QR code, or by shared link are accessible.

Within a lesson, select the Accessibility Toggle at the top left of the lesson screen. This will trigger a pop-up, select OK, and it will load the accessible screen. NOTE: At this time, accessible lesson screens are only found within Health, PE, and Ready Lessons. 

Magnified view of the accessibility button and its location in the top left corner of the page

Compliance #

Yes! QuaverEd is committed to meeting the standards and requirements of the federal government, as described in the Federal Rehabilitation Act, Section 508. We are dedicated to achieving Level AA compliance with the World Wide Web Consortium guidelines, as described in W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1).

Curricula #

Quaver Health•PE and QuaverReady.

Yes! QuaverEd is committed to a fully accessible user experience. As one of the largest teams in QuaverEd’s Content Department, our accessibility professionals are solely dedicated to making all QuaverEd’s curricula fully accessible. For more details and anticipated timelines, see our Quaver Accessibility Statement.

Functionality #

  • Computers:
    • Windows: Use JAWS for best experience
    • Mac: Use VoiceOver for best experience
    • Chomebooks: Use ChromeVox for best experience
  • Mobile devices:
    • Apple: Use VoiceOver for best experience
    • Android: Use TalkBack or Voice Assistant for best experience

Yes, due to some of the technologies used to create Quaver’s interface and in order to get the best experience while using JAWS there are some differences in how you will need to navigate the site. JAWS is very advanced and will activate certain features when some elements pop up on the page or when a new window is opened. Some issues you’ll need to be aware of while using JAWS in Quaver’s interface are:

  • When opening the Teacher’s Dashboard Account Popup this often triggers JAWS’s forms mode.
  • Changing the Lesson View, Daily Dose, and Health + P.E. tabs after selecting a lesson from the Health Lessons Menu will often trigger JAWS’s forms mode.
  • When navigating the accessible version of lessons and opening the HTML Only version will restart JAWS’s virtual cursor. This needs to be turned off again to get the best experience using the tab key.

Yes. In addition to striving for WCAG and Section 508 compliance, QuaverEd.com utilizes a plugin to make our site even more accessible by providing features that would otherwise not be available. Using the accessiBe plugin you can take your QuaverEd.com experience and customize it to make sure you get the most out of our content. By keyboard navigation or mouse clicking the Accessibility Icon floating in the bottom left corner of the window, you’ll open a variety of options to take control of your experience. There are preset profiles for users who would like to use accessibility profiles such as Seizure Safe, Vision Impairment, Keyboard Navigation profiles, and more. You can also adjust individual items such as sizing, scaling, magnification, color adjustments, and orientation within the plugin. We aim to make our site not only accessible but easy to use as well.

By default, Safari’s Tab key only jumps to links and form elements on a webpage. Option-Tab is Safari’s default method for keyboard navigation to take you to each item. The default can be switched by going to Safari’s Preferences > Advanced and selecting “Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage.” Changing this preference will reverse the default settings and you can Tab through each item.

Check to make sure you don’t have a pop-up blocker turned on. If you do, whitelist QuaverEd.com and refresh the site.

Yes! Each and every accessible lesson’s screen is quality tested using screen readers and other assistive technologies on multiple platforms, including computers and mobile devices.

Yes! Transcripts are available for all screens that include audio. For videos, the transcripts are included in Teacher Notes. For all other screens, printable transcripts are linked in the upper left corner of the lesson screen.

Our Spanish resources are not accessible at this time. If you switch to a Spanish Resource, Accessibility Mode will automatically turn off.

Content #

Yes! All videos will have a combination of English or Spanish closed-captioning, audio descriptions, dubbing, and/or transcripts, depending on the needs of the specific video and its language. All options can be accessed by clicking the gear icon on the video player. Closed captions can also be enabled by selecting CC in the bottom right of the video player.

Audio descriptions for videos can be found by clicking the gear icon in the bottom right part of the player, selecting Track, and then clicking either English AD or Spanish AD.

Yes! Time-based media (TBM) alternatives are available for all lyric screens. Time-based media alternatives are similar to audio descriptions, but they are text-based, more detailed, and include timestamps. All TBM alternatives can be found in the Teacher Notes of each lesson screen.

We encourage and welcome feedback from our customers. Let us know if you’ve encountered accessibility barriers or have suggestions or ideas on how we can improve. Contact our Customer Service Department at (866) 917-3633, Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (Central Time), or at info@QuaverEd.com.

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