Accessibility Statement for Pearson Assessments

Pearson Assessments Business

Pearson is the world’s leading learning company with expertise in a variety of assessments. Our products and services are used by millions of test takers around the world every day.

We provide a wide range of assessments and related services for a variety of education and testing purposes. Thousands of employees collaborate on Pearson’s assessments, including educators, research scientists, content specialists, and technology experts. We partner with educators, test owners, states, and districts to develop new, personalized ways of learning through effective, scalable assessments that measure real-world skills and inform instruction.

Accessibility Vision, Mission and Belief

The vision of Pearson’s Assessments Business is to achieve equitable access for all test takers, including people with sensory, physical, and cognitive impairments. Accessibility in our products and services means that websites, tools, materials and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them.

For this reason, our mission is to create accessible solutions that work well for everyone. This mission is based on our belief that for people to be lifelong learners they need and deserve equitable access to learning.

Implementation Approach & Progress

A core component of our implementation approach is to provide a shared service team of accessibility experts to support equitable access in product development across the Assessment Business. This team enables Assessment to make improvements in accessibility by:

  • Supporting strategic efforts that include:
    • Working towards complying with international accessibility guidelines
    • Designing and delivering accessibility training
    • Maintaining best practice resources for accessible design and testing
  • Providing accessibility services that include:
    • Product evaluations that incorporate iterative quality assurance testing with assistive technology
    • Development and maintenance of accessibility documentation through Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) / Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRS)
    • Leadership support for Pearson Able, our internal Employee Resources Group (ERG) for employees with disabilities
  • Conducting research and technical discovery that includes:
    • User studies with people with disabilities
    • Active involvement in standards development through the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative and IMS Global
    • Working with advocacy organizations

Accessibility Guidelines and Specifications

  • The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content and Web applications more accessible. Pearson Assessment works toward conformance with these guidelines. Through these efforts, we strive to make content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including those with sensory, physical, communication, and cognitive impairments.
  • WAI-ARIA , the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite, defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies.
  • IMS (Instructional Management System) Global Learning Consortium was established in 1995 as a “project of the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative of EDUCAUSE.” IMS is “concerned with establishing interoperability for learning systems and learning content and the enterprise integration of these capabilities.” Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) is tightly coupled with the Access for All (AfA) Specification, which allows systems to record and transfer users’ support needs and preferences when using computers, or when taking computer-based assessments. Test candidate needs and preferences are transferred using a Personal Needs and Preferences file (PNP).

Accessibility Regulations

Many countries have incorporated components of various accessibility standards and guidelines and codified them into law, policy, or regulation. Pearson⁏s goal is to stay abreast of accessibility regulations in the countries in which we do business, and one resource we use is the W3C - Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Accessibility Laws & Policies.

Accessibility Assistance for Pearson Assessment Products

Further and ongoing accessibility efforts are underway. If you have questions about a specific product or service in the Pearson Assessments Business please contact us.

Accessibility Conformance Reporting

Last Updated

This Accessibility Statement was last updated on 07/12/2024.