Jacob Perkins

Jacob Perkins

Jacob Perkins, the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Section 508 coordinator, earned the Trusted Tester Certification (TTv5) from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The certification is granted to those who have demonstrated an ability to apply the DHS Trusted Tester Conformance Process, which consists of a manual accessibility testing approach that aligns with the ICT Testing Baseline and provides repeatable and reliable accessibility conformance test results.

The training required for the certification includes over 70 hours of coursework, as well as a rigorous code-inspection-based certification examination.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is a set of standards, similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, that requires federal government agencies to make Information and Communications Technology accessible to employees and members of the public who have physical, sensory or cognitive disabilities.

Through a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, KDE is required to bring its public function and content into compliance with the federal accessibility regulations.

Having a certified Trusted Tester ensures that the department has an in-depth understanding of tests for Section 508 compliance.