Introduction

A high school teacher stands at the blackboard, about to assign a chapter on the American Revolution from the district-required textbook. As she looks out over the class, she can predict which of her students will master the material and how each of them will perform on the test at the end of the chapter. She feels pessimistic about her ability to improve the achievement of her low-performing students. Considering the time and resources she has available, providing adequate support and differentiating it appropriately to individual needs, while at the same time teaching the content in a way that will stimulate her most prepared students, seems an insurmountable challenge.

Successful learning experiences challenge and support each learner appropriately and adjust as the learner changes over time. The goal of UDL is to provide every student this kind of customized and responsive experience. Establishing goals is the first step. The next step is to plan instruction so that students have multiple pathways for achieving their goals. How can you use the UDL framework to individualize methods, and how can UDL materials provide the support necessary to make this option feasible and practical?

In our discussion of standards, we noted that tasks can be classified according to the brain network they most engage. This leads to two important questions:

1. Which methods of teaching are most compatible with the ways that each brain network actually functions?
2. What kinds of flexibility must instructional materials have to make individualization work?

With clearly stated and well-communicated goals and the answers to these questions, you can use the UDL framework to individualize the path to learning.