Welcome to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) World Wide website. CDE incorporates into its website the Web Accessibility Guidelines developed by the Governor's Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT). We are pleased to provide an alternative medium for accessing information about our programs and services. If you have any suggestions for improving the accessibility features of our website, please contact the CDE Webmaster.
Instructions for Users with Visual Disabilities
The CDE website has been designed to be used with a screen reader. For instance, all images on our website are accompanied by a word image tag that may be visible if your browser supports the ALT-Text function.
If a Web page has an on-line form that is not accessible, please call the phone number or e-mail the office listed for assistance in obtaining the form or filling it out.
Solutions to Common Browser Problems
Some content within our website may require the installation of third-party plug-ins such as Adobe® Flash®, Windows® Media Player®, Apple® QuickTime®, and many others. In each case, there should be a notification and link informing you that you need to install a new plug-in. Be careful that you only install trusted plug-ins that are necessary for the page content. Malicious plug-ins can be dangerous to your computer.
Third-party plug-ins
Here is a list of downloadable plug-ins used within the CDE website:
Adobe Acrobat Reader® (for .PDF file extensions)
Adobe Flash Player® 
Apple QuickTime® (for .MOV file extensions)
WinZip® (for .ZIP file extensions)
Adobe AIR®, (Adobe Integrated Runtime)
Make sure that JavaScript is enabled in the browser
JavaScript is enabled by default on all supported browsers. However, if you encounter problems, check your browser settings to make sure that JavaScript is enabled. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari
Pop-up blockers
If you experience issues viewing certain links, you may need to disable pop-up blocking on your browser. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari
Make sure that cookies from third-parties are allowed
Third-party cookies are allowed by default on all supported browsers. If you experience problems, please check your browser settings to make sure you allow third-party cookies. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari
Site Features
Keyword-based Search Engine
Within the upper-right portion of each page of the CDE website you'll find a search engine feature which provides quick, relevant, and easy to use search results; allowing quick navigation to the desired content.
Viewing Microsoft® Documents
Microsoft Word (for .DOC file extensions)
- Windows - Doc Viewer Free - View a Document Without Word
- Macintosh* - Word Documents can be opened with Appleworks (currently shipped with OS X)
- Macintosh* and Windows - OpenOffice
- Macintosh* and Windows - Google Documents
Microsoft Excel (for .XLS file extensions)
- Windows - Options to View a Spreadsheet Without Excel
- Macintosh* - Excel Spreadsheets can be opened with Appleworks (currently shipped with OS X)
- Macintosh* and Windows - OpenOffice
Microsoft PowerPoint (for .PPT file extensions)
- Windows - Options to View a Presentation Without PowerPoint
- Macintosh* and Windows - OpenOffice
- Macintosh* and Windows - Google Documents
* NOTE: Microsoft does not have free Macintosh viewers for Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
For additional information, contact: CDE Webmaster
