Accessibility & WCAG: What Schools Should Ask EdTech Vendors

TL;DR: Before buying any learning platform, ask vendors how they conform to WCAG, request a current VPAT, and test with real students who use assistive technology. Accessibility is now a baseline procurement requirement, not a nice-to-have. This guide gives you the exact questions to ask.

Key Takeaways

• WCAG is the standard to name: Most procurement teams now anchor on WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the baseline, with WCAG 2.2 (published October 2023) as the forward-looking target.
• Ask for a VPAT in writing: A completed Voluntary Product Accessibility Template becomes an Accessibility Conformance Report, and it is the single most useful document you can request from a vendor.
• Multiple ways to learn matters: Platforms that let students write by hand, watch step-by-step video, and ask for help by voice give learners more than one route to the same content.
• Test before you sign: A demo with your own students who use assistive technology will tell you more than any marketing page.
• Accessibility and privacy travel together: The same procurement rigour you apply to data privacy should apply to accessibility, since both protect the students you serve.

What does WCAG actually mean for a school?

WCAG stands for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a set of internationally recognised standards for making digital content usable by everyone, including students with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive differences.

The guidelines are built around four principles, often shortened to POUR: content should be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. In plain terms, every student should be able to perceive the material, navigate it, understand it, and use it on whatever device or assistive technology they rely on.

For a school, WCAG is not an abstract technical document. It is the practical difference between a platform a blind student can use with a screen reader and one that locks them out. When you bring an AI Maths and Science platform into your classrooms, every student deserves the same access to it.

Which accessibility standards apply to your school in 2026?

The version most procurement teams reference is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. It has become the practical legal and institutional baseline across many regions, and it is the level most education buyers now write into their requirements.

WCAG 2.2, published in October 2023, adds success criteria that particularly help users on mobile devices and learners with cognitive disabilities. A vendor that targets 2.2 is signalling a commitment that goes beyond the minimum.

In the United States, ADA Title II has sharpened the picture for public institutions. Large public bodies have been working toward WCAG 2.1 AA conformance deadlines through 2026, with smaller institutions following on a later timeline. Even if your school sits outside that jurisdiction, these deadlines have pushed accessibility documentation to the front of nearly every serious procurement conversation.

The takeaway is simple. Name a standard in your requirements, ask vendors to map their product against it, and treat anything vaguer than a version number and a conformance level as a red flag. If you want a fuller view of how to structure these requirements, our guide on what schools should look for when choosing a platform walks through the wider evaluation.

What should you ask an EdTech vendor about accessibility?

This is the heart of the matter. Below is a checklist you can lift directly into a request for proposal or a demo call. Strong vendors will answer these without flinching.

Which WCAG version and level do you conform to? You want a specific answer, such as WCAG 2.1 Level AA, not a general claim that the product is accessible.

Can you share a current VPAT or Accessibility Conformance Report? Ask for the date. An ACR from three years ago describes a product that no longer exists.

Who tested it, and did real assistive-technology users take part? Automated scans catch some issues, but lived testing with screen-reader and switch-device users catches the rest.

How do students with different needs complete the same task? A student should be able to reach an answer whether they type, write by hand, listen, or speak.

What is your remediation process when an issue is found? Accessibility is never finished. You want a vendor with a clear path for fixing problems, not a one-time certificate.

Does accessibility extend to the teacher tools, not just the student app? Teachers with disabilities also use these platforms to create worksheets and review reports.

For the closely related privacy side of vendor evaluation, our companion checklist on student data privacy questions every school must ask pairs naturally with this one.

How do you read a VPAT without being an accessibility expert?

A VPAT can look intimidating, but you only need to understand a few columns. The document lists each WCAG criterion alongside a conformance level, usually marked as Supports, Partially Supports, Does Not Support, or Not Applicable.

Scan first for how many criteria say Does Not Support, and read the notes beside them. A handful of partial supports with honest explanations is far more trustworthy than a wall of unqualified Supports claims.

Check the date and the WCAG version at the top. A VPAT mapped to WCAG 2.1 AA and dated within the past year tells you the vendor maintains the document as the product evolves.

Finally, read the plain-language notes. The best reports explain what a partial support actually means for a student in a classroom, which is exactly the context you care about. Roughly seven in ten EdTech tools now publish a VPAT, so a vendor that cannot produce one is increasingly the exception.

What does accessible Maths and Science learning look like in practice?

Accessibility is easiest to judge when you watch a real lesson. The question to keep asking is whether a student has more than one way to reach the same answer.

Growtrics for Schools is built around exactly that idea, giving students at partner schools several routes through Maths and Science. These features are live in the product today and serve students from Primary 4 through Pre-University, ages 10 to 18.

Handwriting recognition lets students write answers by hand, and the AI reads and evaluates them. For a learner who works better with a stylus than a keyboard, this removes a barrier rather than adding one.

Personalised video explanations give step-by-step walkthroughs tailored to each question, so a student who learns better by watching and listening is not stuck with text alone.

Call Gracie lets students call or chat with Gracie, the AI tutor, for on-demand help. A student who finds it easier to ask out loud than to read a help page has a voice-led path to support.

None of these features is a substitute for a formal conformance report, and we would never present them as one. What they show is a product designed so that students can engage through writing, watching, or speaking, which is the spirit WCAG is trying to protect. You can see how these fit together on the how it works page and across the Maths and Science subjects we cover.

How does Growtrics approach accessibility for schools?

We treat accessibility the way we treat data privacy: as a procurement-grade conversation, not a marketing badge. When your IT lead or data protection officer evaluates Growtrics, we will walk through our accessibility approach directly rather than pointing you at a slogan.

The platform is designed around multiple input and output modes. Students write by hand, watch personalised video, and speak to an AI tutor, while teachers generate worksheets, scan and grade student work, and review personalised reports in one place. That multimodal design is the foundation good accessibility builds on.

Because every school's requirements differ, the right way to assess fit is a working session with your own students and staff. Our guidance on how schools roll out a platform school-wide and on LMS and SIS integration shows how we approach these institutional details with the same care.

To review our current accessibility approach against your standards, the best next step is to partner with us and book a demo.

How does Growtrics compare with other school platforms?

Accessibility is rarely a single feature. It is the sum of how many ways a student can engage with the material. The table below compares Growtrics on capabilities that genuinely widen access, built only from features that are live in the product today.

Every checked capability in the Growtrics column is a feature live in the product today. We deliberately leave a conformance badge out of this table, because that belongs in a dated report you can inspect, not a comparison grid. For deeper competitor context, see our Geniebook alternatives guide and our Growtrics versus KooBits comparison.

Who is behind Growtrics?

Growtrics is built by a team focused on Maths and Science outcomes for students aged 10 to 18, working directly with schools and institutional learning centres rather than selling a one-size-fits-all consumer app.

That institutional focus shapes how we handle questions like accessibility. Schools answer to families, regulators, and their own inclusion commitments, and our job is to make those answers easier to give. You can read more about the people and purpose on our mission page and the evidence base on our why it works page.

Schools comparing the wider field may also find our overviews of the best STEM learning platforms for ages 10 to 18 and how schools choose an AI Maths and Science platform useful background.

Frequently asked questions

Is WCAG legally required for schools?

It depends on your jurisdiction, but WCAG 2.1 Level AA has become the practical baseline in most education procurement, and in some regions it is tied directly to legal deadlines. Even where it is not strictly mandated, buyers increasingly treat it as a requirement.

What is the difference between a VPAT and an ACR?

A VPAT is the blank template. Once a vendor fills it in against a standard like WCAG, the completed document is an Accessibility Conformance Report. People often use the terms interchangeably, but the ACR is what you actually want to read.

Should I trust an automated accessibility scan?

Use it as a starting point, not a verdict. Automated tools catch a portion of issues, but only testing with real assistive-technology users reveals how the product behaves in practice.

How does accessibility relate to data privacy in procurement?

They are two halves of responsible vendor selection. Both protect students, and both deserve written documentation. Our student data privacy checklist covers the privacy half in the same depth as this guide covers accessibility.

Can we test accessibility before committing?

Yes, and you should. Ask for a demo with your own students and staff, including anyone who uses assistive technology, before you sign anything. You can request one through our partner with us page.

The bottom line

Accessibility has moved from the fine print to the front of the procurement conversation, and that is good news for students. The schools that get it right are the ones that ask precise questions, demand a current VPAT, and test with real learners before they buy.

Growtrics is built around multiple ways to learn, with handwriting recognition, personalised video, and a voice-led AI tutor live in the product for students aged 10 to 18, and teacher tools that handle worksheets, grading, and reports in one place. To see how it measures up against your accessibility standards, partner with us and book a demo.

Browse more guidance for schools on the Growtrics blog, or connect with us on LinkedIn.