Working for Large Scale Change: National Models and Resources

Although change generated from the bottom up is an absolute necessity, there must be systemic change on a regional, state, and even national level if UDL is to be practical. To suggest that every school system digitize its curricular materials would be to propose an unwieldy, costly, and highly inefficient approach. Schools would be (and actually already are) duplicating efforts, misdirecting teacher- and volunteer- resources into a time-consuming undertaking. After a while, digital versions of print-based texts would fall short of their promise; with each school or district occupied with creating its own digital material, there would be limited time to build in the smart supports this flexible medium makes possible.

Digitizing print materials is a start, but it is still anchored in the format and concepts of a print-based world. Clearly, to be practical in the long run for everyone, the shift to providing digital curriculum materials and tools needs to occur from the top down. Educational policy needs to demand UDL curriculum, designers need to create it, publishers need to distribute it, teachers need to be prepared to implement it, and professional and parent organizations need to embrace it.

CAST and The National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum

CAST and The National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum CAST's National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum (NCAC) is confronting the need for systemic change head-on. Part of a national initiative that emerged from the re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA '97), NCAC was established by CAST in 1999 through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. NCAC draws on the talents of five partners, already established leaders in their fields:

• CAST, as the lead organization
• Harvard University Children’s Initiative/Harvard Law School
• The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
• Boston College Lynch School of Education’s Department of Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum, and Instruction
• The Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER).

Charged with providing leadership in using the UDL framework to increase access to the general education curriculum for all learners, NCAC is investigating and making recommendations in four major arenas—the areas in which we must effect change if UDL is to become a widespread reality.0

1. Policy and legal issues. NCAC is working for shifts in policy and legal matters, such as copyright law and assessment issues including high-stakes testing. The NCAC's Policy Group at the Harvard Law School is examining state special education policies and determining what leeway the new copyright laws allow publishers and third parties in the application of published materials.

2. Curriculum design. NCAC is working for changes in the curriculum itself, starting with provision of digital materials with built-in, flexible supports, built-in goal specification, and built-in assessment tools. CAST is researching and developing new materials with embedded, flexible supports and ongoing assessment.

3. Teacher preparation and training. NCAC advocates new approaches to teacher preparation and ongoing professional development and support, including rethinking the roles of specialists and the curriculum planning process. The Boston College Teacher Practice group has surveyed teachers regarding the frequency with which they adapt their teaching to individual students, the types of adaptations they make, the tools they use in doing so, and additional adaptations that they would like to make. NCAC's Teacher Practice Group has also developed a sample lesson plan outlining the process of developing a UDL lesson.

4. NCAC is generating interest in UDL by reaching out to professional and lay constituencies, including parents and parent organizations; general and special education professional organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM); and organizations such as the International Reading Association (IRA) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). CEC and PACER are working to gather insights, ideas, and feedback from these and other constituents, all of whom are helping to shape UDL.

NCAC is committed to digital media. CAST's work in Universal Design for Learning has now become part of the textbook adoption calls in several states. The California Department of Education has incorporated UDL principles into its Criteria for 2002 Language Arts Adoption, and the Florida Department of Education's Instructional Materials Specifications for Reading, Grades K-12 (2001 adoption) refers publishers to UDL research on the CAST Web site.

Despite this progress, most general curriculum materials, teaching methods, and policies are poorly designed to address individual differences of any kind and fall far short of meeting the challenge of educating students with disabilities. As a result, highly motivated teachers spend a considerable amount of time preparing adaptations and accommodations to their materials and methods. Such retrofitting usually comes at the expense of core preparation and actual instruction. Other teachers continue to use existing materials and methods "as is." The unfortunate result is poor performance from disabled students on large-scale tests, the "warehousing" of these students, and for many, an end to the progress they were making in the general curriculum.

To bring about change, we need to build the awareness that can lead to action.

• Teachers need to know that there are alternatives to inaccessible core curricular materials and that finding and using these materials can help them serve the needs of all their students.
• Administrators and textbook adoption committees need to require UDL materials and to specify the flexibility those materials and tools should offer.
• Parents need to know that they can seek UDL materials and tools so that their children can participate in the general education curriculum at the highest possible level.
• Publishers need clear and consistent guidelines for how to prepare, disseminate, and protect their materials in accessible digital versions. They need models for how to take advantage of the new technologies to increase access and support for students.

By complementing traditional materials (such as textbooks) with digital versions and providing flexible tools, educators can reduce or eliminate many barriers to learning and set up effective supports.

Resource: Online information and links from the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum.

The Universal Learning Center

CAST, through our leadership of NCAC, has received preliminary funding from the U.S. Department of Education and others to establish an Internet-based service that will provide teachers, administrators, publishers, and parents with just-in-time access to the tools and resources they need for UDL. The Universal Learning Center (ULC) will have four main components:

• A Web site, which will serve as a portal to the tools and resources offered by the ULC.
• A searchable database of information about digital educational materials available in the ULC and elsewhere on the World Wide Web.
• The Content Library and Tools catalogue, housing a centralized collection of digital materials in a secure location.
• Consulting and production services to assist publishers and other producers of content.

The Universal Learning Center will help educators and parents obtain accessible digital core curriculum materials; it will give publishers and content providers the capacity to respond to new accessibility requirements so that they can qualify for state adoptions; and it will provide all students with opportunities for success.

Resource: Visit CAST's Universal Learning Center.

Universal Learning Editions

You may be familiar with the Modern Library Editions of classic literature. These handsome volumes offer a high-quality presentation of revered works, adding modern insights, viewpoints, and concepts. CAST is researching and developing a parallel UDL concept: the Universal Learning Editions (ULEs).

Universal Learning Editions, to be available in digital form and online, will include a wide range of supports to scaffold individual learners and make the content accessible to everyone. ULEs will not only adhere to the Web Accessibility Guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, but will be further enriched to meet the Universal Design for Learning criteria established by CAST and supported by the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum.

These editions may include classics from many genres of literature (historical documents, biographies, fiction, poetry, etc.), and music, graphic arts, and film. Textbooks, workbooks, and other forms of instructional media could also be configured to meet Universal Learning Editions criteria, eliminating the need for multiple versions of the same classroom resource. Combining the transformability of digital media with scaffolds for learning goals and customized embedded assessment, ULEs will provide educators, parents, and students with accessible, enhanced, and previously unachievable opportunities for instruction and learning.

The National Consortium on UDL Learning

As part of CAST's approach to systemic change, we have formed the National Consortium on Universal Design for Learning, a community of educators committed to improving learning opportunities for every student by applying UDL principles to classroom practice. Consortium members share information and ideas and together build models and methods that work. For example, the Consortium is working to design and implement new approaches to curriculum planning that capitalize on the collective expertise of regular and special educators to choose, adapt, or design supportive and challenging instructional units for all learners. The Consortium's work connects closely with that of the NCAC: advancing the concept of UDL and exploring promising instructional strategies, curricula, technology tools, and professional development models.

CAST offers UDL-related opportunities to Consortium members. For example, members may participate in occasional instructional workshops held at CAST's Peabody, Massachusetts, offices, and apply through a request-for-proposals process for professional development activities such as UDL fellowships and sponsored attendance at selected conferences. The Fellowship program offers on-site experience at CAST and financial support to further UDL in schools. Consortium members also receive early notice of technologies under development at CAST, with possible participation in beta testing. You will find the Consortium information, forums, and the online newsletter at http://www.cast.org/nationalconsortium.