BurlingtonEnglish Accessibility Statement

Scope

This statement covers the BurlingtonEnglish learning platform at app.burlingtonenglish.com, including its courseware, assessments, and learner and administrator interfaces. Accessibility for the BurlingtonEnglish marketing website at www.burlingtonenglish.com is addressed in the separate statement published there.

Our commitment

BurlingtonEnglish is used by adult learners across a wide range of abilities, in classrooms, computer labs, and at home. Accessibility is treated as a core requirement of the product rather than a compliance exercise. Our objective is that a learner using assistive technology can complete the same coursework, assessments, and reporting workflows as any other learner, through the same interface.

Accessibility is built into the platform

Accessibility is engineered into the BurlingtonEnglish platform itself. Our interface, courseware, and assessments are developed against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and accessibility criteria are applied during the authoring of all new content rather than added afterward.
This includes semantic markup and correct heading structure, programmatically associated form labels, ARIA roles and accessible names for interactive controls, full keyboard operability with a visible focus indicator and logical focus order, color contrast meeting AA thresholds, no reliance on color alone to convey meaning, support for text resizing and reflow without loss of content or function, text alternatives for meaningful images, and captions and transcripts for audio and video. The platform is tested with assistive technology, such as JAWS, as part of our release process.
These measures are present in the platform at all times, for all users. They are not dependent on any add-on, script, or toggle.

The role of the accessibility toolbar

The accessibility toolbar in the platform is software we designed and developed ourselves. It is not a third-party accessibility overlay, and it is not the mechanism by which we meet accessibility requirements.
The distinction matters. The toolbar does not add accessibility to the platform; it gives the learner control over accessibility features that are already built into it. Each control corresponds to a capability that is part of the platform and its content regardless of the toolbar. The controls are learner preferences. They do not substitute for the underlying implementation.
When a learner enables a setting, the toolbar adjusts how content is presented in that learner’s browser in order to deliver the preference they selected. These adjustments are made only at the learner’s request and only for that learner. The toolbar does not scan the platform for accessibility defects, and it does not apply automated corrections in place of accessible implementation. Platform conformance is achieved in the underlying code and content and does not depend on the toolbar.
Learners who use their own screen reader, magnifier, or browser settings do not need to enable the toolbar. The platform is built to work with that software directly.
We built the toolbar because a significant share of our learners study on shared or managed devices in adult education programs, community colleges, public libraries, and workforce centers, where they have no administrator rights and cannot install personal assistive software. The toolbar gives those learners immediate access to reading and display supports at the point of use. It is an integrated part of the product, because accessibility settings belong inside the product, alongside the functionality they control.

Regulatory and procurement context

Many of our partner institutions are covered entities under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and many procure under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Department of Justice’s 2024 final rule establishes WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for the web content and mobile applications of state and local government entities, including public school districts and public colleges. The Revised Section 508 Standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA. Our conformance target of WCAG 2.1 Level AA meets and exceeds the Section 508 baseline and satisfies the ADA Title II standard, so that our institutional partners can rely on BurlingtonEnglish as part of their own compliance posture.

Documentation and feedback

Our accessibility documentation is available on request. If you encounter an accessibility barrier in the platform, or need assistance with any part of it, please contact BurlingtonEnglish Customer Support at support@burlingtonenglish.us. We prioritize any barrier that affects a learner’s access to instruction or assessment.
We continue to work on improving the accessibility of the platform. Despite our efforts, some content may not yet be fully adapted to every accessibility standard, and we welcome reports that help us identify and address those cases.