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Outreach and Technical Assistance Network | The Science of Motivation

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Reenvisioning the UDL Guidelines

Because the UDL Guidelines are meant to be informed by feedback from the field as well as new research, they have been updated several times in the past. We are in the process of updating the Guidelines once again in our UDL Rising to Equity initiative.

This update will focus specifically on addressing systemic barriers that result in inequitable learning opportunities and outcomes. CAST aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process. If you are interested in collaborating and staying updated on our progress, we invite you to complete a brief survey.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

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Understanding Universal Design for Learning

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The standards help instructors identify the underlying basic and academic skills embedded in CASAS Competencies. These standards contain clearly stated detailed statements leveled according to NRS Educational Functioning Levels. The standards are also related to the items in our various test series. The statements are divided into easy-to-use categories. Aligning CASAS Competencies and Assessments to Basic Skill Content Standards get adobe reader provides a full description of the reading and listening content standards.

Basic Skills Content Standards by Skill Area

CASAS Reading Standards (2016) Second Edition

In 2019, CASAS updated the CASAS Reading Standards (2016) and re-named them CASAS Reading Standards (2016) Second Edition. The document, CASAS Reading Standards (2016) Second Edition, shows how the standards align with the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education (2013) and the NRS Educational Functioning Levels for ABE (2016) and ESL (2018).

Reading Content Standards 2009 correspondence to CASAS Reading Standards 2016 Second Edition.

Tools for Instructors

The Reading GOALS test series and the Life and Work Reading test series are based on practitioner task force recommendations and alignment with basic skill competency and content standards. TOPSpro Enterprise provides several individual student and class reports that identify underlying basic skills in reading, math, and listening for each competency assessed. These reports help instructors target appropriate instruction based on both competencies and associated basic skill content standards.

Basic Skills Content Standards by Test Item Correlations provide information about the basic skills content standards contained in each test form.

Student Performance by Content Standard documents correlate CASAS test items to CASAS Basic Skills Content Standards.

Content Standards Worksheets help teachers prioritize Competencies and Content Standards for classroom instruction.
Reading Basic Skills Content Standards (2009) Worksheets

Listening Basic Skills Content Standards Worksheets

Development and History

Since 1980, CASAS has focused on teaching and assessing basic skills in contexts relevant to adults. CASAS has developed and continues to refine a highly formalized hierarchy of competencies, the application of skills that adults need to be functional and productive members of society.

At the request of the CASAS National Consortium, representing numerous states, CASAS developed content standards as a formal part of the system. This enhancement assists teachers in more fully integrating content standards and competencies in instruction.

The content standards are clear statements leveled according to NRS Educational Functioning Levels and are related to CASAS test items in many test series. The statements are divided into categories to assist in navigating through the standards.

This National Consortium project was coordinated with the assistance of a thirteen-state technical workgroup. The process included a review of existing state adult education content standards for California, New York, Massachusetts, Arizona, Maryland, and Florida, as well as other national and state standards documents. The workgroup used this information to begin development and pilot testing of content standards. The standards are correlated to CASAS performance levels, the National Reporting System, and aligned to CASAS Competencies and tests.

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aligning casas competencies and assessments

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CASAS basic skills content standards help instructors identify the basic skills in CASAS Competencies which can strengthen teaching and learning along with basic skills content standards gives clearly stated, detailed statements related to CASAS test items in CASAS test series.

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What is the Lesson Bank?

These excellent, thorough lesson plans were created by outstanding teachers in Illinois. The Adult Education Professional Development Network members were inspired by the lesson development of these individuals as they constructed and submitted their plans. The Lesson Bank was born out of the excellence of their work in the Professional Pathways trainings. We thank them for sharing their lessons and for their desire to improve not only their own instruction but also the instruction around the state. Thanks for lifting all the boats! We hope you are inspired by the tri-lens approach of integrating Illinois Essential Employability Skills, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and content standards.

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Excellence In Adult Education | Lesson Bank

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These excellent, thorough lesson plans were created by outstanding teachers in Illinois. The Adult Education Professional Development Network members were inspired by the lesson development of these individuals as they constructed and submitted their plans. The Lesson Bank was born out of the excellence of their work in the Professional Pathways trainings.

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We’re currently checking your connection. This shouldn’t take long.If you keep getting this page, check if there’s a problem with Canva.

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Standards (Educators > Tools) - California Adult Education Program

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California Adult Education is a resource for Adult Educators to access statewide practices and innovative solutions for adult instruction.

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UDL Barrier ID Flow Chart (8.5 x 11 in) (11 x 8.5 in) (Presentation (4:3))

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First introduced in 2008, the UDL Guidelines are meant to be dynamic and continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. Since the release of Version 1.0 in 2008, CAST has released four iterations that trace our learning not only as an organization but as a broader UDL community. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, and the result of this process is the UDL Guidelines 3.0.

This new update, released in July 2024, builds upon previous iterations and emphasizes addressing barriers rooted in biases and systems of exclusion. This expanded version intentionally includes those practitioners and scholars whose experiences and perspective may not have been recognized in previous versions. This update aims to fulfill the promise of the Guidelines as a resource to guide the design of learning environments and experiences that reduce barriers and more fully honor and value every learner.
Learn more about the updating process behind Guidelines 3.0
For a detailed description of the expansions included in the updated Guidelines and the rationale behind the changes made, please read UDL Guidelines 3.0: Rationale for Updates.

For a side-by-side comparison of what changed from Guidelines version 2.2 to Guidelines version 3.0, please explore: " Changes from Guidelines 2.2 to Guidelines 3.0"

Themes found in UDL Guidelines 3.0

Overarching expansions to this iteration of the UDL Guidelines include:

Putting UDL in conversation with other asset-based approaches and theoretical frameworks - including pedagogies that center, value, and sustain learners' cultural and linguistic practices - and making their intersections and complementary nature more explicit.

Emphasizing identity as part of variability. Previous iterations have emphasized the remarkable variability among learners in terms of how they engage with learning (Multiple Means of Engagement, the "why" of learning), how they perceive information (Multiple Means of Representation, the "what" of learning), and how they act on and express what they know (Multiple Means of Action and Expression, the "how" of learning). This current iteration also emphasizes learners' multiple and intersecting identities as part of variability. This "who" of learning is a dimension that is woven across all three UDL principles.

Acknowledging individual, institutional, and systemic biases as barriers to learning without limits.

Emphasizing the value of interdependence and collective learning.

Shifting from educator-centered to learner-centered language. Guidelines 3.0 intentionally uses verbs that can be used interchangeably among and between educators and learners to spark flexibility and creativity in ways to apply the Guidelines. Depending on the learning goal, educators, learners, or educators and learners together might apply specific guidelines.

Themes emphasized in the three principles include:
Engagement

Centering, affirming, and sustaining learners' interests and identities

Emphasizing the role of belonging in teaching and learning

Promoting the role of joy and play for learners and educators alike

Cultivating empathy and repairing harm with restorative practices

Representation

Authentically representing a diversity of identities, perspectives, and narratives

Considering perceptions of people, cultures, and languages

Valuing multiple ways of knowing and making meaning

Action and Expression

Honoring and valuing a wide variety of forms of communication

Centering and valuing forms of expression that have been historically silenced or ignored by addressing biases

Challenging exclusionary practices to build more accessible, inclusive spaces and systems

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Adult Learner Variability Network Article 

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Adult Learner Variability Network Article 

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Adult Learner Variability Network

When working with any person, especially adults, an educator must first understand what impacts our students for them to fully engage in school. While we may empathize with obstacles which impact our students, we may not know how to strategically support them...until ALVN. The Adult Learner Variability Network (ALVN) offers classroom strategies, research and resources for particular Adult Learner Factors.

For example, this model is categorized into four factors. They are Learner Background, Social and Emotional Learning, Cognition, and Adult Literacies. Beneath each factor are specific descriptors.

An educator can hover over a particular factor like Hearing beneath the Learner Background Category. When your cursor hovers over the factor, the other related connected factors remain.

When I click on the Hearing factor, ALVN takes me to a page which describes the factor, main ideas around it and other factor connections.

Scrolling beneath the Factor Connections, Description and Main Ideas of each factor are Research-Based Strategies to think and incorporate into your lesson for this learner. For this factor there are many strategies to consider and further peruse.

To continue with the hearing example, I clicked on the Cultural & Life Experiences Connections and then the page immediately opened to an Overview, Learning Environment, Additional Resources, Supporting Factors & Related Strategies. Some of these may or may not be useful or may reiterate something you may already realize. However, there's a huge chance that you may learn something which can really help.

Scrolling lower beneath the Connection, the Additional Resources lists additional examples, professional development ideas and videos and research.

Like many digital tools today, I wish I had access to this years ago when there wasn't a lot of information about factors which impact people. This tool empowers us to filter the information for use and to support our students.

TDLS2023 - ALVN: Connecting research with practice

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Outreach and Technical Assistance Network | Adult Learner Variability Network

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When working with any person, especially adults, an educator must first understand what impacts our students for them to fully engage in school. While we may empathize with obstacles which impact our students, we may not know how to strategically support them...until ALVN.

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Adult Learner : Factors | Learner Variability Project

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Promoting Real-Time Access to Learning for Students with Disabilities

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In the C.R.E.A.T.E. approach developed by AI consultant and author Dave Birss, prompts are framed by addressing the AI as "you." The acronym stands for:

Character - Describe the role the AI is to assume. Kong says you can add in aspirational elements like "You are an experienced writer who crafts concise text without filler words or jargon"

Request - Clearly and specifically define the request. "I want you to..."

Examples - Give examples if you have them

Additions - Refine the task. Describe a point of view to consider or a style to use

Type of Output - For example, a 100-word summary or a chronologically organized bio

Extras - Any further information you wish to provide, including reference text

The resulting prompt is a little like an instructor's assignment, as you can see:

More information on the C.R.E.A.T.E. approach is available in Birss' LinkedIn Learning course.

Method No. 3: The Structured Approach

The structured approach was developed by Lance Cummings, an AI content specialist and an associate professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The formula for this approach, as Cummings describes it in " The Anatomy of a Prompt," is as follows:

1. Start with a role and a goal. Broadly describe the overarching aim and purpose

2. Provide context and background

3. Clearly define the task. Make your expectations explicit and detailed

4. Provide any reference content the AI will need to complete the task

To try out Cummings' approach, I pasted the draft content of this article (up to this point), following this text:

ChatGPT responded:

I plan to post the response I got using Method #1 (the rhetorical approach), but I'm going to add in a couple of the emojis I got with the response above.

"You don't need to stick to just one of these methods," Kong adds. "You can draw elements from all three. Crafting a prompt is about finding the most effective and clear way to present the language model with its task, while providing context, details, and reference material as needed."

Generative AI Models and the Liberal Arts

In early 2023, it seemed half the world was enthralled - and the other half appalled - by ChatGPT. Some thought generative AI, which creates original content in response to a prompt, would be especially bad news for the liberal arts. A year or so later, Kong disagrees.

"Generative AI has increased the demand for the very skills we worried it would replace, such as writing, editing, and critical thinking," says Kong. "These liberal arts skills are also the key to prompt engineering."

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Prompt Engineering: The Art of Getting What You Need From Generative AI

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In the C.R.E.A.T.E. approach developed by AI consultant and author Dave Birss, prompts are framed by addressing the AI as "you." The acronym stands for: Character - Describe the role the AI is to assume.

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Confronting Ableism on the way to Justice
Full Magazine Feature
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KARSTEN MORAN
"Being Black and a child with cerebral palsy, or 'crippled' as I was called, neither I nor my classmates were expected to put forth any effort to learn. So, little effort was spent on teaching us. The simple act of requesting that actual math be taught got me sent to the principal's office." Article Writer, Keith Jones explained in this Magazine article featured in Learning for Justice. Jones' takeaway message inspires educators to look beyond the barrier to learning and the intersection of race or gender, for example, and have high expectations as well allow them voice and agency.

Even with family members active in the social justice and civil rights struggles, "disability wasn't in the mix of those power topics about justice." Jones' "earliest experience of the intersectionality of my identities not being fully considered, except in ways that created barriers." Furthermore, he was "unaware to what extent racism and ableism were shaping his ability to be educated." Even with conversations about police interaction or the legal system reform, "disability is rarely addressed." And it needs to be included in every conversation.

"Unfortunately, in organizing and advocating for larger justice issues, the disability community, regardless of their shared identities, has been marginalized within these larger movements. And within the disability rights struggle itself, intersecting identities have also been pushed to the corners."

WHERE WE CAN GO?

A recommendation from Jones is to focus on "inclusive spaces, high expectations for students with disabilities and training for all educators. Listening to the perspectives of those with lived experience is key to understanding that disability is not a problem to solve but part of the total human experience to embrace."
OTAN Resources on Accessibility Timeline of Disability Rights in the United States
WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Why aren't people with disabilities included in the conversation? Are they included in your agency discussions about programs? What about students with many identities including disabilities? How are they a part of the conversation at your school?

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Outreach and Technical Assistance Network | Confronting Ableism on the way to Justice

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Full Magazine Feature PHOTOGRAPHY BY KARSTEN MORAN "Being Black and a child with cerebral palsy, or 'crippled' as I was called, neither I nor my classmates were expected to put forth any effort to learn. So, little effort was spent on teaching us.

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Failure to Communicate: A 360° Experience about Learner Variability

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When it comes to learning, variability is the rule not the exception. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that guides the design of learning goals, materials, methods, and assessments as well as the policies surrounding these curricular elements with the diversity of learners in mind.

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When it comes to learning, variability is the rule not the exception. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that guides the design of learning goals, materials, methods, and assessments as well as the policies surrounding these curricular elements with the diversity of learners in mind.

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"Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn." It isn't something you "do" as much as a framework that drives asset-based beliefs and design. It is intentional. It is something that takes time to develop and it is worth every minute that you spend learning how to do.

The Introduction of Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) began in 1984 when Dr. David Rose and Dr. Ann Meyer, two researchers from the Harvard School of Graduate Education, incorporated CAST, Inc., The Center for Applied Specialized Technology. The goal of CAST was to revolutionize the way that students with special needs were taught by introducing technology that would allow teachers and students to customize their learning experiences. By 1990, this goal evolved to address the "disabilities of schools" instead of the "disabilities of the individual". This change mirrored what was happening in architecture, with buildings designed so that all people could access them regardless of their disabilities.

The most common example used to describe this change is the "curb cut".

A standard sidewalk with a curb has about a six-inch difference between the curb and the street. This six-inch difference is a barrier to a person with a disability. The "curb cut" is that incline that is built into most sidewalks today that allows a person with a disability to easily navigate the transition from curb to street without a problem.

It turns out that the "curb cut" is not only good for someone with a disability. It is also good for everyone else. A person on a bike or a skateboard, a person pushing a baby carriage, or riding a bike can all benefit from the design. So, what was "essential for some is good for all" and Universal Design for Learning was born.

UDL and the Human Brain

As stated above, UDL is based upon brain science on how humans learn. The human brain has three major "networks":

Each of us uses these networks uniquely. This uniqueness creates an incredible variability between us that not only "makes the world go around" but presents huge barriers to education. This variability also destroys the myth of "the average student. " It used to be that all teachers would teach to this "mythical average student." It turns out that the average student doesn't exist and never did.

The goal of UDL is to create " Purposeful and Motivated learners who are Resourceful and Knowledgeable and Strategic and Goal Directed. " UDL uses a list of guidelines that will help you develop and deliver UDL lessons by rethinking the barriers that students face and planning for student variability by providing options and choices. These options and choices are defined by three principles:

The Why: Providing multiple means of engagement,

The What: Providing multiple means of representation,

The How: Providing multiple means of action and expression

These options and choices will help students self differentiate and develop a growth mindset. The guidelines are not a checklist that you use to build a lesson plan. You don't have to use all of them, in every lesson that you create. However, they can help you craft your lessons globally so that all students have the opportunity to succeed.

UDL is a FRAMEWORK.

A framework is a set of principles or beliefs. The three core beliefs of UDL are:

Variability is the rule, not the exception-students don't have to do the same things at the same time,

All students can work towards the same firm goals and state standards with flexible means, and

All students will become expert learners if barriers are removed and engagement is deep.

UDL is often confused with Differentiated Instruction (DI) and Understanding by Design (UbD). They are all similar but they are different. UDL is all about students being able to self differentiate based upon the options and choices that the teacher provides. DI is based upon the teacher creating instruction based upon the teacher's assessment of student need.

UbD is the design of education based upon the final outcome.

Each of these frameworks can and should be used together with UDL. For instance, since UDL is goal-oriented and standards-based it would make sense for an instructor to start at the standard and work backwards to design options and choices that will help the students achieve the standards. And, there will be times when a student does not learn a particular topic regardless of the options and choices presented. In these situations, it would make perfect sense for the teacher to intervene and provide a special assignment, lesson, or activity especially for the student who needs extra help. The goal, in this case, would be to supplement not supplant the Tier 1 instruction.

UDL also works well with Bloom's Taxonomy and the Five E's. " Bloom's taxonomy is a classification system used " to define and distinguish different levels of human cognition " or academic rigor. UDL practitioners can use the taxonomy to increase or simplify an activity to personalize learning.

In the Five E's model of instruction, students construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. It was developed specifically for STEM fields of education. It can be used with UDL to find better ways to "hook" students, encourage students to explore phenomena on their own, and apply what they learn to real world problems.

UDL is all about using whatever means that you can to find out:

What student need to know or be able to do,

What barriers may prevent students from learning, and

Designing flexible pathways for all learners to learn and share what they need to know.

Continue your learning journey! Explore our self-directed and facilitated online courses.

Sources:

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The Science and Research Behind the UDL Framework.

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"Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn." It isn't something you "do" as much as a framework that drives asset-based beliefs and design. It is intentional.

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UDL is based upon the most widely replicated finding in educational research: learners are highly variable in their response to instruction. In virtually every report of research on instruction or intervention, individual differences are not only evident in the results; they are prominent. However, these individual differences are usually treated as sources of annoying error variance as distractions from the more important "main effects." UDL, on the other hand, treats these individual differences as an equally important focus of attention. In fact, when viewed through the UDL framework these findings are fundamental to understanding and designing effective instruction. The research that supports UDL falls into four categories: foundational research of UDL, research on the UDL principles, research on promising practices, and research on implementation of UDL.

To see the specific research evidence related to each Checkpoint, navigate to the individual Checkpoint's page and select the Research link in the sidebar. We've also included a list of links to those Research pages at the end of this page.

Foundational Research on UDL

UDL draws from a variety of research including the fields of neuroscience, the learning sciences, and cognitive psychology. It is deeply rooted in concepts such as the Zone of Proximal Development, scaffolding, mentors, and modeling, as well as the foundational works of Piaget; Vygotsky; Bruner, Ross, and Wood; and Bloom, who espoused similar principles for understanding individual differences and the pedagogies required for addressing them. For example, Vygotsky emphasized one of the key points of UDL curricula-the importance of graduated "scaffolds". These are important to the novice, but that can be gradually removed as the individual acquires expertise. Scaffolding with graduated release is a practice that is as old as human culture and is relevant to learning in almost any domain, from learning to walk or ride a bike "unaided" to the long apprenticeships of neurosurgery or aircraft flying.

Research on the Principles of UDL

The research basis for the general principles of UDL is also grounded in modern neuroscience. The three basic principles are built upon the knowledge that our learning brains are composed of three different networks, recognition, strategic, and affective. The Guidelines align these three networks with the three principles (recognition to representation, strategic to action and expression, and affective to engagement). This empirical base in neuroscience provides a solid foundation for understanding how the learning brain intersects with effective instruction. This alignment is further extended and clarified by the guidelines and checkpoints.

Promising Practices Research

Promising lines of research include work identifying the specific practices that are critical to meeting the challenge of individual differences-research that has been amassed over decades and by many different researchers. These studies are labeled as "promising" because they appear to fit within the UDL framework, but they have not been tested in a UDL environment or using the framework. It is important that these practices are studied within a UDL environment for them to be considered effective UDL practices. This is an area in which we greatly encourage contributions from the field.

Implementation Research

Fourth, there is research on specific applications of UDL within learning environments, including conditions necessary for implementation, common barriers, and lessons from the field. This new area of research is in its early stages but will take a more prominent place as full-scale curricular applications and system-wide implementations are developed. It should be noted that this is another area in which we greatly encourage contributions from the research field.

Research Evidence by Checkpoint

Explore the research used to develop each UDL Guidelines Checkpoint.

Engagement

Representation

Action & Expression

Do you have UDL-related research you'd like to share? Email us at udlguidelines@cast.org.

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UDL is based upon the most widely replicated finding in educational research: learners are highly variable in their response to instruction. In virtually every report of research on instruction or intervention, individual differences are not only evident in the results; they are prominent.

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UDL is based upon the most widely replicated finding in educational research: learners are highly variable in their response to instruction. In virtually every report of research on instruction or intervention, individual differences are not only evident in the results; they are prominent. However, these individual differences are usually treated as sources of annoying error variance as distractions from the more important "main effects." UDL, on the other hand, treats these individual differences as an equally important focus of attention. In fact, when viewed through the UDL framework these findings are fundamental to understanding and designing effective instruction. The research that supports UDL falls into four categories: foundational research of UDL, research on the UDL principles, research on promising practices, and research on implementation of UDL.

To see the specific research evidence related to each Checkpoint, navigate to the individual Checkpoint's page and select the Research link in the sidebar. We've also included a list of links to those Research pages at the end of this page.

Foundational Research on UDL

UDL draws from a variety of research including the fields of neuroscience, the learning sciences, and cognitive psychology. It is deeply rooted in concepts such as the Zone of Proximal Development, scaffolding, mentors, and modeling, as well as the foundational works of Piaget; Vygotsky; Bruner, Ross, and Wood; and Bloom, who espoused similar principles for understanding individual differences and the pedagogies required for addressing them. For example, Vygotsky emphasized one of the key points of UDL curricula-the importance of graduated "scaffolds". These are important to the novice, but that can be gradually removed as the individual acquires expertise. Scaffolding with graduated release is a practice that is as old as human culture and is relevant to learning in almost any domain, from learning to walk or ride a bike "unaided" to the long apprenticeships of neurosurgery or aircraft flying.

Research on the Principles of UDL

The research basis for the general principles of UDL is also grounded in modern neuroscience. The three basic principles are built upon the knowledge that our learning brains are composed of three different networks, recognition, strategic, and affective. The Guidelines align these three networks with the three principles (recognition to representation, strategic to action and expression, and affective to engagement). This empirical base in neuroscience provides a solid foundation for understanding how the learning brain intersects with effective instruction. This alignment is further extended and clarified by the guidelines and checkpoints.

Promising Practices Research

Promising lines of research include work identifying the specific practices that are critical to meeting the challenge of individual differences-research that has been amassed over decades and by many different researchers. These studies are labeled as "promising" because they appear to fit within the UDL framework, but they have not been tested in a UDL environment or using the framework. It is important that these practices are studied within a UDL environment for them to be considered effective UDL practices. This is an area in which we greatly encourage contributions from the field.

Implementation Research

Fourth, there is research on specific applications of UDL within learning environments, including conditions necessary for implementation, common barriers, and lessons from the field. This new area of research is in its early stages but will take a more prominent place as full-scale curricular applications and system-wide implementations are developed. It should be noted that this is another area in which we greatly encourage contributions from the research field.

Research Evidence by Checkpoint

Explore the research used to develop each UDL Guidelines Checkpoint.

Engagement

Representation

Action & Expression

Do you have UDL-related research you'd like to share? Email us at udlguidelines@cast.org.

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UDL is based upon the most widely replicated finding in educational research: learners are highly variable in their response to instruction. In virtually every report of research on instruction or intervention, individual differences are not only evident in the results; they are prominent.

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David Rose, the person who first created these guidelines back in the 1990s.

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National Center on Universal Design for Learning

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LINCS | Adult Education and Literacy | U.S. Department of Education

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TEAL Center Fact Sheet No. 2: Fact Sheet: Universal Design for Learning

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UDL is an approach to curriculum design that can help teachers customize curriculum to serve all learners, regardless of ability, disability, age, gender, or cultural and linguistic background. UDL provides a blueprint for designing strategies, materials, assessments, and tools to reach and teach st…