http://www.cast.org/pd/consortium
Issue Number 21: June, 2005
Dear Readers,
The Consortium newsletter is pleased to highlight new resources, articles, announcements, and professional development offerings for educators interested in expanding learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities. We also look forward to your comments and we appreciate your readership.
Enjoy and Happy Summer,
Grace
CAST Website
The CAST website has a new look and feel. Please explore and email us at webeditor@cast.org with your comments.
UDL Guidelines
CAST is looking for individuals, interested in reviewing our Universal Design for Learning (UDL)Guidelines. If you would like to review the guidelines and provide feedback to us, please send an email to UDLguidelines@CAST.org. Read “What is Universal Design for Learning?” for background information on UDL.
UDL-based Thinking Reader™ Wins Prestigious Codie Award!
Thinking Reader, a UDL-based reading comprehension improvement program which originated at CAST, has won the 2005 Codie Award for Best Education Instructional Solution for Special Needs Students from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)—the industry’s equivalent of an Oscar—for developer and publisher Tom Snyder Productions.
Thinking Reader provides upper elementary and middle school students with instruction and practice in key reading strategies. The program enables struggling readers to read the same high-quality, unabridged novels as their peers—books such as Tuck Everlasting and The Giver. Through prompts, hints, model answers, and immediate feedback, students receive the differentiated instruction and individualized support needed for success.
Thinking Reader emerged from CAST’s research into universally designed digital learning environments—research that was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. The a two-year scientifically based validation study, students using Thinking Reader demonstrated significantly greater gains in comprehension on the Gates MacGinitie Reading Tests than did their peers in a traditional strategy instruction condition.
“We’re so pleased that Thinking Reader has been recognized by the industry with its most prestigious award,” said David H. Rose, CAST’s Chief Scientist of Cognition & Learning, and a Founding Director. “We congratulate Tom Snyder Productions, which has shown such creativity and commitment in developing and disseminating this research-proven solution to classrooms. Universally designed educational products really can help all learners succeed—as Thinking Reader demonstrates.”
Visit Tom Snyder Productions at www.tomsnyder.com to learn more about the classroom editions of Thinking Reader.
CAST Announces the UDL Center
CAST has announced a new initiative to revive and extend the international UDL Center. First established by CAST in 1996, the UDL Center’s mission is to advance knowledge and implementation of Universal Design for Learning through the dissemination of research, professional development, and technical assistance.
The new UDL Center aims to provide services that facilitate high quality implementations within the field as exemplars of UDL in action. Success will depend on robust, two-way communications between UDL practitioners and CAST’s researchers and theorists who continue to refine the principles, guidelines, and practices of UDL.
Stay tuned ...
Harvard Education Press to UDL Book in September
In September, the Harvard Education Press will publish a new book, “The Universally Designed Classroom: Accessible Curriculum and the Promise of Digital Technologies.” This collection will draw on the work of CAST’s National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum (1999-2004). Topics include UDL implementation using Differentiated Instruction, Background Knowledge Instruction, Graphic Organizers, and Computer Simulations; curriculum planning to maximize accessibility; identifying classroom barriers to equal learning opportunities: what NCLB and the new IDEA’04 require of special and general educators; and a revised and expanded version of the Meyer & Rose classic “The Future is in the Margins: The Role of Technology & Disability in Educational Reform.”
http://gseweb.harvard.edu/hepg/
Doing History with Universal Design for Learning
“History is not the story of the past. It is not a record of events that happened long ago. It is a form of inquiry that helps us construct an understanding of our own lives (individually and collectively) in time. It is an interpretive discipline, requiring that students determine the validity and credibility of evidence in order to analyze and to construct narratives about people, events and ideas of the past”
- Amy von Heyking, 2004, “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years”
Educational researchers reveal that elementary students can do history. In this one-day workshop, we plan to explore the current classroom-based research that illustrates how students are engaged in historical thinking (e.g., examining multiple, and often conflicting, sources) and provide examples of how Universal Design for Learning can make this learning available to every child.
If you and/or your colleagues are interested in attending a one-day summer workshop that focuses on social studies instruction that goes beyond names and dates, simply email history@cast.org with the number of those interested and the grade level(s) they teach. Monday, August 8, 2005 8:30 – 3:00. Workshop Fee: $275.
Professional Development Resources
Check out the professional development resources that support understanding and implementation of Universal Design for Learning, and download professional development slides and activities that are useful in teaching others about UDL.
Summer Reading
CAST has a number of new publications that communicates its research results and provides practical advice on applications of Universal Design for Learning. Take time this summer to learn more about UDL.
REGISTER NOW!
There is still space available for our new and exciting professional development offerings at CAST in Wakefield, Massachusetts. CAST is located 20 minutes from downtown Boston and 30 minutes from the seaside activities on the North Shore. Sign-up now! http://www.cast.org/pd/institute/index.html
Featured Summer Sessions:
#8 ELL, Literacy, and UDL June 27 and 28, 2005
#9 UDL and Math July 7 and 8, 2005
#7 What does Brain Research Tell us about Learner Differences, July 14 – 15, 2005
#10 Cognitive Disabilities, Emergent Literacy, and Strategy Instruction July 20 – 22, 2005
#12 Shaking Up the Classroom, Using UDL August 3 – 5, 2005
#13 UDL: Reaching and Teaching All Learners August 24 – 26, 2005
Summer Math Institute
The Center for Implementing Technology in Education announces its 2005 Summer Institute: Making Technology Count in K-8 Mathematics, to be held at SERESC in Merrimack Valley, New Hampshire, August 1 and 2. Raising achievement in mathematics through effective practices and new technologies will be the focus.
The Institute will feature an exciting program of speakers, covering such themes as technology implementation concerns, evaluation, the change process, and hands-on experiences with mathematics software as well as adaptive devices. Find out more at http://www.citeducation.org.
Thank you for your interest in CAST and our work. It is our intention to send this newsletter to individuals who have requested to receive it. If you believe you are receiving this in error or wish to no longer receive it, you can unsubscribe by sending a message to natconsortium@cast.org with a subject of "unsubscribe consortium".
Please feel free to forward this email to colleagues who may be interested in this content.
Grace J. Meo
Co-Director of the National Consortium on Universal Design for Learning
mailto:gmeo@cast.org
http://www.cast.org
