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Overall Performance Category Findings and Recommendations: Moderate Maturity Categories

Moderate Maturity - Very Low Conformance

  • Number of entities in Category: 13

  • Average Maturity Score: 2.37

  • Average Conformance Score: 0.55

  • Two Lowest Average Dimensions: Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership (1.59), Training (1.95)

  • Two Highest Average Maturity Scores: Acquisitions and Procurement (2.95), Content Creation (2.93)

Highlighted Outcomes:

  • 9 entities (69%) said that Section 508 reviews are frequently (2 entities) or almost always (7 entities) integrated into the reporting entity’s electronic content prior to publication

  • 12 entities (92%) said it is unknown (1 entity), that they never (3 entities), or they only sometimes but usually, in an ad hoc manner, (8 entities) conduct web content user testing with people with disabilities prior to deployment to address all applicable Section 508 standards.

  • 10 entities (77%) said they do not have resources to test their top 10 internet pages and 11 entities (85%) said they do not have resources to test their top 10 intranet pages. The others did test for both internet and intranet pages (3 entities and 2 entities, respectively) and all pages were nonconformant.

Summary

Those in the Moderate-Very Low overall performance category should continue to invest resources in testing and developing testing capabilities.

Moderate Maturity - Low Conformance

  • Number of Entities in Category: 36

  • Average Maturity Score: 2.49

  • Average Conformance Score: 1.50

  • Two Lowest Average Dimensions: Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership (2.12), Training (2.16)

  • Two Highest Average Maturity Scores: Communications (2.96), Policies, Procedures, and Practices (2.69)

Highlighted Outcomes:

  • 29 entities (81%) said that Section 508 reviews only sometimes (17 entities), never (11 entities), or it is unknown (1 entity) if the reporting entity conducts web content user testing with people with disabilities prior to deployment to address all applicable Section 508 standards.

  • 21 entities (58%) said their Section 508 program almost always (15 entities), frequently (2 entities), or regularly (4 entities) provides support in response to ICT accessibility-related questions and support requests.

  • When asked to test the top 10 documents in the entity, 21 entities (58%) said they either did not have the resources to test (17 entities) or none of the documents they tested fully conformed (4 entities). Another 7 entities (19%) had less than 50% conformance for the documents tested.

  • When asked to test the top 10 internet pages in the entity, 24 entities (67%) said they either did not have the resources to test (17 entities) or none of the pages they tested fully conformed (7 entities); another 7 entities (19%) had less than 50% conformance for the pages tested.

  • Entities in this category performed below trend in the Technology Lifecycle Activities and Communications Dimensions while they were more or less aligned with the trend for all other Maturity Dimensions.

Summary

Those in the Moderate-Low overall performance category should continue to invest resources in expanding testing capabilities, particularly including those with disabilities in testing public content.

Moderate Maturity - Moderate Conformance

  • Number of Entities in Category: 16

  • Average Maturity Score: 2.50

  • Average Conformance Score: 2.44

  • Two Lowest Average Dimensions: Technology Lifecycle Activities (1.99), Acquisition and Procurement (2.21)

  • Two Highest Average Maturity Scores: IT Accessibility Program Office (3.08), Content Creation (2.73)

Highlighted Outcomes:

  • 12 entities (75%) said they never (2 entities) or only sometimes (10 entities) identify and prioritize risk of Section 508 nonconformant ICT using a risk framework throughout the technology development lifecycle.

  • 9 entities (56%) said ICT accessibility core values have been included in the reporting entity DEIA and mission-related strategic plan, and leadership regularly communicates this core value.

  • When asked to test the top 10 internet pages in the entity, only 1 entity (6%) said it did not have resources to test. Of the other 94%, 1 did not provide any pages and thus had 0% conformance, 4 other entities (25%) tested pages with no pages fully conforming, and the rest had at least some pages conform with 4 entities (25%) having all pages tested be 100% conformant.

  • 88% of entities reported that the Section 508 conformance of the enterprise-wide chat or internal real-time messaging system was either fully conformant (4 entities, 25%), mostly conformant (7 entities, 44%) or the entity did not have such a capability (3 entities, 19%).

  • Entities in this category performed below trend in the Technology Lifecycle Activities Dimension and slightly above trend in the IT Accessibility Program Office Dimension.

Summary

Those in the Moderate-Moderate overall performance category should increase the frequency or depth of consideration of accessibility in the technology development lifecycle and create repeatable remediation processes. While a majority had resources to test their ICT, a relatively low percentage of entities showed full conformance to standards.

Moderate Maturity - High Conformance

  • Number of Entities in Category: 9

  • Average Maturity Score: 2.53

  • Average Conformance Score: 3.35

  • Two Lowest Average Dimensions: Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership (1.84), Training (1.98)

  • Two Highest Average Maturity Scores: Acquisition and Procurement (2.92), IT Accessibility Program Office (2.86)

Highlighted Outcomes:

  • 6 entities (67%) said they only sometimes verify contract deliverables that are required to be Section 508 conformant.

  • 5 entities (55%) said they had no Section 508 training plan defined, while 2 entities (22%) stated they have a general Section 508 training plan defined but do not specify training needs and training curriculum by ICT roles and responsibilities. The last 2 entities (22%) said they have a Section 508 training plan that identifies training needs and training curriculum for some ICT roles and responsibilities.

  • 8 entities (89%) said they either did not host or produce any videos (4 entities, 44%), or they had the resources to test their top 5 videos (4 entities, 44%) with 3 of those that tested reporting 100% conformance for those videos; only one entity (11%) said they did not have the resources to test.

  • 78% of entities reported they either do not have any publicly posted Section 508 and ICT accessibility policies (1 entity) or their policy conforms to all relevant Section 508 conformance standards (67%, 6 entities). The other two (2 entities, 22%) reported 50% to 90% of applicable Section 508 requirements.

  • Entities in this category performed below trend in the Communications and Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership Dimensions and slightly above trend in the Acquisition and Procurement Dimension.

Summary

Although overall performing moderately well in the Acquisition and Procurement maturity dimension, those in the Moderate-High overall performance category should continue to develop capabilities to verify the accessibility of contract deliverables as well as improving their Section 508 training planning and capabilities.

Moderate Maturity - Very High Conformance

  • Number of Entities in Category: 2

  • Average Maturity Score: 2.12

  • Average Conformance Score: 4.32

  • Two Lowest Average Dimensions: Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership (0.94), Acquisition and Procurement (1.15)

  • Two Highest Average Maturity Scores: Content Creation (4.69), Communications (2.97)

Highlighted Outcomes:

  • All entities said ICT accessibility is not included in any reporting entity policies or directives.

  • 1 entity (50%) said there are no documented processes or procedures for reporting, assessing, tracking, and resolving Section 508-related complaints. The other entity said it was unknown if they have a process for complaint resolution.

  • All entities said both their enterprise-wide chat or internal real-time messaging system and their enterprise-wide Learning Management System (LMS) were both 100% conformant to applicable ICT accessibility standards.

  • Both reporting entities tested all 10 of the requested top 10 viewed documents and determined all were 100% conformant to relevant Section 508 standards.

  • Entities in this category performed well below trend in the Human Capital, Culture, and Leadership and the Acquisition and Procurement Dimensions and well above trend in only one dimension: Content Creation. In fact, almost all of the dimensions, except Content Creation, were somewhat below or well below trend (this content is buoying all other Dimension outcomes.)

Summary

Given such high and consistent conformance, those in the Moderate-Very High overall performance category should allocate resources into building lasting efforts related to ICT accessibility across the enterprise, specifically by maturing their Section 508 program and entity-wide accessibility efforts.

Reviewed/Updated: December 2024

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