About This Session
Pomona College has been working through Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA since 2017. With a lot of questions about how to meet compliance, this session shares how Pomona reached Siteimprove scores in the 90s — and how you can apply the same approach in manageable steps.
Rather than tackling accessibility as a single overwhelming initiative, Pomona used a combination of Siteimprove scanning, manual verification, internal policies, and strategic coding practices to achieve and sustain WCAG 2.1 AA compliance — including Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) best practices.
The Bite-sized Approach
Automated Scanning
Using Siteimprove to continuously monitor accessibility scores, prioritize issues by impact, and track improvement over time — not just one-time audits.
Manual Verification
Where automated tools fall short, manual testing fills the gap — ensuring screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and complex component behavior.
Internal Policies
How governance policies that set clear expectations for content creators and developers make accessibility more maintainable at scale.
Strategic Coding Practices
Coding standards and component libraries built with accessibility baked in — reducing the remediation burden on individual pages and teams.
Learning Outcomes
- Understand what WCAG 2.1 AA is, what it entails, and how institutions can practically achieve and sustain compliance.
- See concrete methods and examples for tackling accessibility best practices in smaller, prioritized chunks rather than as a single overwhelming project.
- Understand how internal policies help make web accessibility more easily maintainable as content and codebases evolve.
Session Description
Pomona College's journey to accessibility compliance is a practical case study in what sustained, incremental effort looks like over nearly a decade. Starting from WCAG 2.0 and building toward full 2.1 AA conformance, the college built systems that catch issues early and keep scores high — rather than scrambling to remediate before a deadline. Attendees will leave with a realistic framework they can adapt regardless of where their institution is in the accessibility journey.