Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Draft – Comprehensive Transition Plan Priorities

PCC acknowledges that ensuring accessibility and inclusion for individuals with disabilities is an integral part of our mission. This recognition has spurred substantial efforts to enhance accessibility over time, demonstrated by the investment in staffing and program resources, the elimination of known barriers, the proactive creation of policies and procedures, and the strategic utilization of technology. Nevertheless, we know that there remains a substantial amount of work to be undertaken to achieve our goal of full participation of people with disabilities in all of our programs, services, and activities.

PCC’s enduring commitment to accessibility is exemplified through the following priorities, all aimed at barrier removal in our built and digital environments, as well as in our programs services as a whole. These priorities have been thoughtfully developed, drawing from accessibility assessments, survey data, and invaluable input from individuals with disabilities who have shared their lived experiences at PCC. The following draft priorities were developed in collaboration with our accessibility committees and key stakeholders, highlighting our dedication to giving voice to our students, faculty, and staff with disabilities.

hammer Built Environment Priorities

 

These priorities are informed by our built environment accessibility assessment data, current and historical reports of accessibility barriers, and requests from our community to enhance accessibility in specific areas. Once we have received feedback on these draft priorities, revisions may be applied and specific action items and cost estimates will be developed for each priority so that progress can be tracked, measured, and reported over time.

Transportation, Parking, and Path of Travel

• Prioritize barrier removal for all barriers located on parking and path of travel routes serving planned 2022 Bond building renovation projects (CT, HT West, Building 2).
• Remediate barriers and improve accessible parking district wide. Parking barrier removal/improvement projects will begin with providing compliant accessible parking connected to and on the shortest possible accessible path of travel where it does not currently exist. Parking that serves unique programs and services at PCC will also be prioritized.
• Perform a feasibility study of alternate transportation methods to provide program access/greater accessibility at the Sylvania Campus (i.e. additional shuttle stops throughout the Sylvania campus and/or mobility device checkout, etc.) with the goal of implementing a viable solution to improve accessibility despite challenges with terrain and long paths of travel.
• Establish a relationship with the City of Portland and other local jurisdictions as applicable to develop a plan to remove barriers that hinder access to PCC facilities, but are not located on PCC “owned” sidewalks or curb ramps.

Wayfinding

• Provide or enhance accessible route wayfinding signage at all campuses.
• Develop an accessible route map for the Sylvania Campus.
• Provide built-in accessible tactile maps for the Sylvania, Cascade, Rock Creek and Southeast Campuses.
• Review and make necessary updates to our Accessible Building Feature Maps to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Classrooms & Learning Spaces

• Perform an accessibility evaluation of unique learning spaces such as auditoriums, labs, learning gardens, etc. and utilize that data to develop a list of prioritized barrier removal/accessibility improvement projects with the goal of ensuring equal access to programs and services at PCC that cannot easily be relocated to more accessible locations.

Restrooms

• Continue district wide restroom improvements by identifying the remaining restrooms with the most barriers and developing a list of prioritized recommended renovations.

Training, Process, & Procedure Development

• Provide comprehensive training to P&CC and Facilities employees regarding built environment accessibility requirements and universal design best practices.
• Update Facilities Owner Standards for Accessibility to address areas of continued concern in new construction/renovations since the standards were implemented.
• Further develop standard operating procedures for access issues that are caused by planned or unplanned events (i.e. elevator shutdowns and construction impacts). Ensure that responsible personnel understand their responsibilities and that the procedures are well communicated to ensure that the college provides program access during maintenance/construction projects that may impact accessibility.
• Continue to develop, streamline, and promote the process that the PCC community can use to report built environment barriers. Streamline the process to track the status and resolution of reported barriers.
• Review and propose revisions to PCC’s emergency preparedness and response plans to ensure our emergency management programs, services, and activities are accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.

laptop code Digital Environment Priorities

 

While students and employees who require accessible software, hardware, and content are able to leverage our accommodation processes, it is important to note that the percentage of individuals who experience disability is significantly larger than the percentage of those who have self-disclosed. Ensuring digital accessibility proactively, can improve recruitment, retention, and completion, as well as reduce the potential for complaints.

PCC’s Public Facing Website

• Ensure that the top 200 websites meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 at Level AA), which is considered an industry standard for web accessibility.

Adopted Technologies (Enterprise and Departmental/Program Software)

• Increase the percentage of software applications (enterprise/program specific) that have been evaluated for digital accessibility and conformance with PCC’s digital accessibility policy.
• Increase the percentage of evaluated applications that meet the accessibility requirements listed in the PCC Digital Accessibility Policy.
• Monitor the number of exceptions granted for applications that do not meet requirements and track what kind of exceptions were granted.
• Ensure that applications granted an exception under the Digital Accessibility Policy have a documented Equally Effective Alternate Access Plan (EEAAP).

Instructional Content

• Increase the percentage of the instructional content in our Learning Management System (D2L) that meets requirements listed in the PCC Digital Accessibility Policy
• Increase the percentage of employee training and development materials available in MyCareer that meets requirements listed in the PCC Digital Accessibility Policy
• Develop an procedure for identifying and testing adopted digital courseware materials for accessibility

User Experience

• Increase the number of people who interact digitally with our campus resources that express satisfaction with the level of accessibility they experience.
• Continue to develop, streamline, and promote the process to report digital environment barriers, track status and resolution of reported barriers or complaints.

Employee Training & Development

• Increase the number of employees who have completed training sessions related to digital accessibility.
• For employees that attend or complete trainings evaluate rates of satisfaction and effectiveness.

chalkboard teacher Program Access Priorities

 

In addition to identifying and removing barriers in the built and digital environments, Section 504 and Title II of the ADA require that public entities such as PCC conduct a self-evaluation of their policies, programs and activities to ensure that they do not create barriers which result in discriminatory treatment of individuals with disabilities. As part of the Comprehensive Transition Plan, departments from across the college completed a self-evaluation survey in Spring and Summer of 2023. The data from that survey, in addition to prior survey data and concerns shared by students and employees via our accessibility committees, have informed the following draft priorities designed to improve access to our programs and services as a whole.

Academic Programs

• Track the rate of participation and success rate for students with disabilities in high enrollment courses/programs/pathways
• Increase the number of pathway teams who utilize disability demographic data for their annual program reviews and discipline updates

Employee Training and Development

• Increase the percentage of employees who have completed the Understanding Accessible Education training available in MyCareer@PCC.
• Develop tailored training sequences with the goal of building practical skills in ensuring and improving accessibility related to an employee’s specific role/job duties.

Policy, Procedure, and Guidelines Review

• Perform a comprehensive policy review of current PCC policies, procedures, and guidelines related to disability and accessibility and make necessary updates/revisions where applicable.
• Ensure that PCC policies, procedures, and guidelines related to disability and accessibility are easily located and well publicized