ClassPods

Accessibility Statement

Last updated: 2026-06-30

ClassPods is used by teachers and students with a wide range of needs, on a wide range of devices. We design the product so that students can join, read, hear, and answer along with the rest of the class — whether they need larger text, calmer screens, sharper contrast, audio support, or content in another language. This page describes what we support today, the standard we measure against, where we still fall short, and how to reach us if something blocks you.

Standard we aim for

We target conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA. WCAG is organized around four principles — content should be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. We use these as the benchmark for new work and for fixing existing gaps. ClassPods has not yet completed a formal third-party audit, so we describe our status below as partially conformant: most of the product meets the standard, and some areas do not yet fully conform.

Built-in reading settings

Every live game and assignment includes a reading-settings panel, opened from the accessibility button in the bottom corner of the screen. A student can change these at any time without a teacher account, and the choices are remembered on their device. The panel offers:

  • Text size: four steps — Small, Normal, Large, and Huge — applied across questions, answers, and prompts.
  • Easier-reading font: switches the interface to the Lexend typeface, which is designed to reduce visual stress and support reading fluency.
  • High-contrast mode: sharper foreground and background colors for low-vision reading or bright, glare-heavy classrooms.
  • Reduce motion:removes celebratory animation, confetti, and transitions for a calmer screen. This also activates automatically when a device has the system “reduce motion” setting turned on.
  • Language: switch the display language where the teacher has enabled translation for that activity.

Read-aloud

Questions and answer choices can be read aloud using a read-aloud control, so students who are still building reading fluency, or who learn better by listening, can hear the content. Read-aloud uses the speech voices already available on the student’s device and follows the active language, so no additional install or login is required. Availability and voice quality depend on the device and browser.

Languages and right-to-left support

Student-facing activities can be displayed in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, and Arabic when the teacher turns on translation for a quiz. For Arabic, the layout switches to a right-to-left (RTL) reading direction and the page’s language attribute updates so assistive technology announces the content correctly. Translations appear only when the teacher has enabled them for a given activity.

Keyboard and assistive technology

  • Core flows — joining a game, reading a question, and selecting an answer — are operable with a keyboard, and interactive controls expose visible focus styles.
  • Buttons, toggles, and dialogs use semantic roles and ARIA state (for example, pressed and expanded states, dialog labels, and close labels) so screen readers can announce them.
  • The reading-settings panel can be closed with the Esc key and traps focus appropriately while open.
  • We respect the operating system’s reduced-motion preference in addition to the in-app toggle.

Known limitations

We are honest about where we are still working. As of the date above, we are aware that:

  • Some teacher-dashboard and administrative screens have not been fully audited for keyboard-only and screen-reader use to the same depth as the student experience.
  • Read-aloud quality varies by device, because it relies on the voices each browser provides; some languages have limited or no voice coverage on certain devices.
  • A small number of complex interactions (such as drag-style ordering and some charts) still need improved non-pointer alternatives and text descriptions.
  • RTL polish is ongoing; a few less-common layouts may not yet mirror perfectly in Arabic.

These items are tracked and prioritized as part of regular development, and this page is updated as they are resolved.

Ongoing work

We continue to expand keyboard coverage across teacher and administrative flows, deepen screen-reader labeling, improve RTL and readable-layout polish, broaden read-aloud coverage, and move toward a formal independent accessibility audit against WCAG 2.1 AA.

Compatibility

ClassPods is designed to work on current versions of major browsers (Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox) on desktops, laptops, tablets, and shared classroom devices. We recommend keeping the browser and operating system up to date, since assistive-technology support improves with newer versions.

Feedback and reporting a barrier

Accessibility is never “done,” and reports from real classrooms are the fastest way for us to improve. If you encounter a barrier, email hello@classpods.org and, where you can, include:

  • the page or activity where it happened (a link helps);
  • what you were trying to do and what went wrong;
  • the device, browser, and any assistive technology you were using.

We aim to acknowledge accessibility reports within five business days and will work with you on a resolution or workaround. Schools with specific accessibility or procurement requirements can request details during onboarding.