Sylvia Rodriguez Douglass
Dr. Rodriguez Douglass is an Implementation Specialist in Northern California. Prior to joining CAST, she was the Universal Design for Learning Instructional Coach at San Francisco Day School. There, she had the privilege to expand UDL practices school-wide in partnership with CAST. Her background is in special education, and she has been a learning specialist/special educator in private and public schools in San Francisco and New York City. She is also a proud member of the Stakeholder Council for UDL Rising to Equity and is excited to contribute to the timely and necessary process of revisiting the guidelines through an anti-racist and equity lens.
In the summer of 2021, Sylvia graduated with her EdD in Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University. Her research focused on special education disproportionality and the discourse educators use when referring a student to special education services.
When she is not working, she enjoys reading fiction, hiking with her family, and listening to podcasts.
My Inspiration
For one of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resilience, places where we know we are not alone.
bell hooks
System change begins when a few people step forward to act on behalf of what matters to them when they start with a problem that’s right in front of them … We don’t have to have approval, funding, expertise, or answers. We just have to get started.
Paulo Freire
I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.’
Toni Morrison
Education
Ed.D., Educational Leadership, San Francisco State University
Ed.M., Special Education, Hunter College
B.A., Childhood Education & Special Education, New York University