(Redmond, WA, Thursday, May 19, 2022) – Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and to better understand teaching and learning needs related to accessibility, Microsoft Education published a survey of teachers outlining key trends as society navigates today’s evolving education landscape.

The findings reveal the gap between what teachers need to help all learners reach their full potential, the pandemic’s impact on student’s emotional wellbeing, and how teachers think about accessible learning.

Key trends include:

• • Accessible technology fosters more inclusive classrooms, but to integrate accessible learning in classrooms, schools must invest in digital tools and adequately train teachers to use them.
    • Nearly all teachers (95%) say they don’t have all the resources they need to serve their students, and 46% say they are not trained to use the technology.
    • Further, 59% say the gap in what they need versus what they have has grown during the past two years.

• School systems have invested in designing accessible learning environments, but the lack of accessible technology is still present.
  • Despite 70% of schools having invested in technology over the past two years, 70% of teachers still feel there is a noticeable gap between the resources they need for instruction and what they currently have.
• The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the ongoing needs and challenges facing educators and students, academically, emotionally, mentally, and physically.
  • Nearly two out of five (41%) teachers say there has been an increase in their students’ mental and emotional issues in the past two years.
  • 52% of teachers have noticed a decrease in reading skills, while 39% have noticed a decrease in math skills in the past two years.

The survey provides the necessary themes for expanding the focus of how accessibility shows up in classrooms, school districts and beyond. The company is committed to providing guidance on producing technology designed with accessibility and inclusion in mind.

To learn more about this survey, visit the Microsoft Education blog.

The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 1,000 US K-12 teachers, between March 30th and April 12th, 2022, using an email invitation and an online survey. The data has been weighted to ensure an accurate representation of US K-12 teachers.

Soundbites: Paige Johnson, Vice President, Microsoft Education Marketing

• IT’S NO SURPRISE THAT THE PANDEMIC SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED ACADEMIC AND EMOTIONAL GROWTH IN THE CLASSROOM. TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE CHALLENGES AT HAND, WE SURVEYED TEACHERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND FOUND THAT HALF OF THEM NOTICED A DECREASE IN READING SKILLS AND MANY SAW AN INCREASE IN THEIR STUDENTS’ EMOTIONAL ISSUES OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS. THE SUPPORT TEACHERS NEED TO DO THEIR BEST WORK WITH STUDENTS HAS DRASTICALLY CHANGED, AND STUDENTS ARE FALLING BEHIND AS A RESULT.

• OUR SURVEY SHOWS THAT NEARLY HALF OF TEACHERS WORK ONE-ON-ONE WITH STUDENTS TO ACCOMMODATE THEIR NEEDS, BUT ONLY THIRTY ONE PERCENT HAVE THE DIGITAL TOOLS TO DO IT WELL. AT MICROSOFT EDUCATION, WE KNOW BOTH LEARNERS AND INSTRUCTORS BENEFIT WHEN TECHNOLOGY IS THOUGHTFULLY DESIGNED WITH ACCESSIBILITY IN MIND, WHICH IS WHY WE DEVELOPED TOOLS LIKE IMMERSIVE READER, WHICH SUPPORTS STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFERENCES SUCH AS DYSLEXIA.

• WE ARE COMMITTED TO INCLUSIVE LEARNING AND PROVIDING PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR ALL STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS. THIS SHIFT IN ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE LEARNING IS ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN JUST GIVING EVERY STUDENT A LAPTOP. IT’S ABOUT EXPANDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW ACCESSIBILITY SHOWS UP IN OUR CLASSROOMS AND BEYOND.