Preparing for the ACMM: Steps for Colleges and Districts

Colleges and Districts with an interest in participating in the Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM) can engage in a variety of preparatory steps, even if the organization has not scheduled an ACMM training and assessment. Colleges and districts can build a solid foundation for a successful ACMM implementation by working on any of the items below. Organizations can either choose items that reinforce existing accessibility efforts or those that require improvement in their organization.

1. Secure an Executive Sponsor for ACMM: This sponsor should be a Vice President or higher for single-college districts or a Vice Chancellor or higher for multi-college districts and will play a pivotal role in ensuring accessibility is an institutional priority. 
2. Establish a Work Group/Committee/Task Force: Establish a committee of stakeholders from across the organization to begin accessibility planning efforts, discuss areas of greatest need, and strategize ACMM goals and milestones.
3. Promote Accessible Document Training: The foundations of accessible digital content are consistent across all platforms. Encourage or require faculty and staff to register for WebAIM Accessible Document training. This training is paid for by the Accessibility Center and is available at no cost to the CCC.  
4. Create a Web Inventory: Gather a list of all websites and pages under the organization's purview, including the main website, departmental pages, and other affiliated websites. The Pope Tech Website Scanning tool can help with this inventory and identify accessibility barriers. This tool is paid for by the Accessibility Center and is available at no cost to the CCC.  
5. Collect ACRs/VPATs for Technology Purchases: Encourage or require purchase requestors to include an Accessibility Conformance Report (also known as an ACR or VPAT) with other pre-purchase documentation. This is an important first step in evaluating the accessibility of acquired technology products and services.
6. Replicate Effective Processes In Other Areas: Identify successful accessibility efforts and extend them to other areas. For instance, if you have processes or procedures that are working well for online classes (such as implementing Universal Design for Learning, including accessibility statements, or selecting captioned videos), extend these processes to in-person classes. If there is one department that has robust processes for checking marketing materials for accessibility, replicate these in other departments, etc. 
7. Address Accessibility Issues In Canvas: Instructors and support staff can quickly identify and remediate accessibility issues across one or several Canvas courses by using Pope Tech Dashboards for Canvas. Colleges and districts can install this tool in their Canvas instance and promote its use. This tool is paid for by the Accessibility Center and is available at no cost to the CCC. 
8. Have Regular Conversations About Accessibility: Emphasize the crucial role of accessibility in larger conversations surrounding strategic planning, communications, technology acquisition and implementation, DEIA efforts, events, teaching best practices, and other relevant areas. 
9. Contact Us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., if you have not already. 

ACMM Status Levels

The Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM) uses status levels to measure how effectively accessibility practices are implemented and maintained. These levels help organizations track their progress and identify areas for improvement.

Status Level Definitions

Each milestone in the ACMM is assigned one of five progressive status levels, ranging from Level 0 to Level 4.

Determining Status Levels

Status levels are determined by reviewing an organization's practices and evaluating evidence submitted to the ACMM team. The assessment uses a standard rubric across five dimensions: processes/procedures, process documentation, resources, scope/scale, and responsibility & authority. Based on these dimensions , each milestone is assigned the appropriate status level along with a calculated numerical score. This score helps organizations track their maturity annually.

Organizations participating in the ACMM will receive in-depth information on status levels, dimensions, and the scoring methodology.

Learn More

• Preparing for the ACMM
• ACMM Goals and Milestones
• ACMM Overview

ACMM Goals and Milestones

The ACMM consists of 89 milestones organized under 7 goals. Further explanation for each goal/milestone is detailed in an Implementation Guide that will be shared with CCC Colleges and Districts that participate in the ACMM implementation.