Accessibility at Atlara
Every student deserves a clear path from here to anywhere — including students who navigate by keyboard, use a screen reader, or need higher contrast. Accessibility is a design requirement at Atlara, not a retrofit.
1. Our commitment
Atlara aims to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA — the standard referenced by Section 508 and by the ADA Title II rule that applies to public schools. Accessibility issues are treated as bugs: they get triaged, fixed, and regression-tested like any other defect.
2. Conformance status
Atlara is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 AA: most of the platform meets the guidelines, and we are actively closing the remaining gaps as the product matures. "Partially conformant" is the honest label while we finish the work — this page will say "fully conformant" only when an audit says so.
3. What's built in today
- Keyboard navigation: interactive elements are reachable and operable by keyboard, with a visible focus indicator on every focusable control.
- Color and contrast: the Atlara palette was chosen with contrast in mind, and meaning is not conveyed by color alone (progress and status pair color with text).
- Structure: pages use semantic HTML — real headings, lists, tables, labels, and landmarks — so screen readers can navigate by structure.
- Forms: inputs have programmatic labels; errors are described in text.
- Responsive by default: the platform works at 320px-wide viewports and at 200% zoom without horizontal scrolling of the page.
- Motion restraint: no autoplaying media, no flashing content, minimal animation.
- Print & export: key documents (resumes, student one-pagers) are real, structured documents — not images of text.
4. How we test
- Automated accessibility checks (axe-based) run against the platform's pages as part of our review process, alongside a viewport sweep of every registered page across all four user roles.
- Manual keyboard-only passes of the core student, counselor, and family journeys.
- Screen-reader spot checks (VoiceOver, NVDA) on high-traffic pages.
- A third-party audit and formal ACR are planned as the interface stabilizes — see below.
5. Known limitations
Areas we're actively improving:
- Some data visualizations are receiving fuller text alternatives and data-table equivalents.
- A small number of complex interactive components are being upgraded with richer ARIA semantics.
- Non-English language support is in progress (Spanish first) — see our plans for family-facing translation.
If any of these — or anything else — blocks you today, contact us and we will provide the information or function another way while we fix it.
6. Documentation for districts
Districts that need accessibility documentation for procurement (a VPAT®/Accessibility Conformance Report) can contact support@codehs.com. A formal ACR based on a third-party audit is on our compliance roadmap; in the meantime we're glad to walk your team through the product's accessibility posture in detail.
7. Tell us what's in your way
If you or a student encounters a barrier in Atlara, email support@codehs.com with "Accessibility" in the subject. Include the page, what you were trying to do, and the assistive technology you were using. Reports go directly to the product team, and we respond to every one.