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Video links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIv9rz2NTUk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855Now8h5Rs

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There is little scientific support for this fashionable idea—and stronger evidence for other learning strategies

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Shared document for participant questions and responses

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Problem of Practice Organizer
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CAST Professional Learning Evaluation - Ventura CA Mar 20

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Book by Nicole Tucker-Smith on applying UDL to adult learning experiences

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1. Home

2. Catalog

3. All Books & Products

4. Supercharge Your Professional Learning: 40 Concrete Strategies that Improve Adult Learning

Author(s)

Kasia M. Derbiszewska & T. Nicole Tucker-Smith

Date

2020

About the Book

Professional learning initiatives in schools come and go, and the constant cycling through programs can resemble fad diets-hype and hope followed by crash and burnout.

In this timely book, longtime professional learning providers Kasia M. Derbiszewska and T. Nicole Tucker-Smith share concrete strategies that will help you design professional development sessions that are compelling, convincing, and sustainable using the framework of Universal Design for Learning.

Learn to recognize and reduce common barriers to effective PD. In each chapter, the authors clearly address the Purpose, Preparation, Implementation, and Benefits to Learning for each aspect of professional learning, as well as UDL Tidbits that help ensure the health and longevity of the initiative.

If you are ready to take the leap toward creating healthy and sustainable professional learning, jump into the chapter that is most relevant to your needs. Get ready to consider the whole adult learner and apply practical strategies for cultivating and maintaining healthy, vibrant professional development that has a track record of success.

Supercharge Your Professional Learning is available in paperback ($34.99, 126 pages, 8.5x11″, ISBN: 9781930583740) and EPUB format ($34.99, ISBN: 9781930583399).
Table of Contents

Kasia M. Derbiszewska & T. Nicole Tucker-Smith on Supercharge Your Professional Learning

Watch the entire series of short videos to get behind-the-scenes insights from Kasia and Nicole about Supercharge Your Professional Learning.

Supercharge Your Professional Learning Playlist

About the Authors

Kasia M. Derbiszewska is the founder of Learning Key Educational Consulting and Development, an organization dedicated to translating educational research into action-oriented strategies for schools and other organizations. Recognized both nationally and internationally as an expert in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Kasia collaborates with schools, districts, states, and other organizations to scale education reform. She holds a master's in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard University where she researched conceptual change and how to facilitate effective professional development. Prior to this work, Kasia was a high school English teacher.

T. Nicole Tucker-Smith, founder and CEO of Lessoncast, helps schools implement professional learning initiatives focused on inclusive leadership and teaching practices, culturally responsive pedagogy, and equity best practice. She leads the Jumpstart PD Network, a community of educators who access flexible PD options to engage in high-quality professional learning experiences that fit their needs, budget, and capacity. She has served as a teacher, supervisor of parent support services, principal, and systemwide coordinator of professional development and training for Baltimore County Public Schools and as a faculty member for Johns Hopkins University School of Education.

Table of Contents

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Eliminate Toxins: Removing Resistance to Change

Chapter 2: Balance Your Diet: Digesting Professional Learning Content

Chapter 3: Choose Superfoods: Selecting High-Impact Strategies

Chapter 4: Remember to Stretch: Reflection Expands Possibilities

Chapter 5: Use It or Lose It: Building Habits to Sustain Professional Growth

Chapter 6: Be Mindful: Paying Attention to Design with Intention

Supercharge Your Remote PD

Closing Thoughts and Checklist

References

More from CAST Publishing

In this book, veteran school leaders Novak and Rodriguez provide school leaders and educators with a guidebook for putting the UDL framework into practice.

K. Novak & K. Rodriguez
2016

This collection of case stories edited by Elizabeth Berquist showcases the practical challenges and solutions of implementing UDL in systems, states, and schools across the United States.

E. Berquist, ed.
2017

In this revised and expanded edition of the bestseller UDL Now!, Katie Novak provides practical insights and savvy strategies for helping all learners meet high standards using the Universal Design for Learning framework.

K. Novak
2016

Top of Page

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Supercharge Your Professional Learning: 40 Concrete Strategies that Improve Adult Learning - CAST Professional Publishing

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Kasia M. Derbiszewska and T. Nicole Tucker-Smith share concrete strategies that will help you design professional development sessions that are compelling, convincing, and sustainable using the framework of Universal Design for Learning.

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Digtital versions

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From Utah SBOE

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Utah UDL Guidelines- Brainstorm Ideas.docx

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Looking at Student Work Through a UDL Lens

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Looking at Student Work Through a UDL Lens

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Protocol for examining evidence of expert learning

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Looking at Student Work Through a UDL Lens

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Graphic Organizer to support longterm planning
https://bit.ly/2LftOXZ

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https://bit.ly/33DjlM9

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Resources for planning introductory PD

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Create a copy (requires Google login)
https://bit.ly/36zdudN
View only version
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XsdM-tYBq_3NfrdlyB2aYLPCMRos5ncdsMnWJgcifsY/edit?usp=sharing

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Handout for considering UDL guidelines when planning PD

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Intervention Central Article

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Teachers of middle and high school students know that these learners sometimes require pointed critical feedback on academic assignments to shape their learning. The reason that most instructors put substantial effort into providing often-detailed performance feedback is clear: to benefit the student. But many students-particularly those at risk of academic underperformance or failure-may instead misinterpret critical instructional feedback as a sign that the teacher lacks confidence in and is negatively biased toward the learner.

A factor that can contribute to students' negatively skewed view of instructional feedback is that it is often ambiguous, presented without an explicit context for understanding the intention behind it. This ambiguity leaves learners free to impose their own interpretations-for example, regarding a teacher's written or verbal feedback about an assignment as a sign either of caring and commitment or a curt dismissal of the student's abilities (Yeager et al., 2013). And, in fact, there is evidence that a tendency to construe teacher feedback in a negative light is more common among those students already sensitive to being stereotyped because of social characteristics such as race, gender, or economic class (Cohen, Steele, & Ross, 1999; Yeager et al., 2013). An African-American student, for example, might interpret a White teacher's written feedback on how to improve her research-paper draft as picky, unfair, and driven by racial bias rather than as representing a genuine desire to help the learner advance her writing skills. As a result, the student fails to heed and apply that adult feedback.

Wise Feedback: Supplying a Proactive, Empowering Explanation. Teachers can reduce the tendency of at-risk students to discount evaluative statements as biased by formatting those statements as 'wise' feedback (Cohen, Steele, & Ross, 1999; Yeager et al., 2013). The teacher structures written or verbal feedback to include these 3 elements:

Feedback description. The teacher describes the nature of the feedback being offered.

High standards. The teacher emphasizes and explains the high standards used to evaluate the student work and generate the instructional feedback.

Assurance of student ability. The teacher states explicitly that the student has the skills necessary to successfully meet those standards.

The wise-feedback strategy appears deceptively simple but is powerful in application. Wise feedback prevents the student from misconstruing teacher comments as negatively biased by proactively offering an alternative, positive explanation: the teacher is giving detailed, ambitious feedback because the standards of the course are high and the teacher is confident that the student has the skills and motivation to meet them.

Wise Feedback: Examples. Here are 3 examples of teacher critical feedback formatted as 'wise' feedback:

Wise Feedback: Example 1: Research Paper with Written Feedback

Wise Feedback: Example 2: PowerPoint Presentation with Oral Feedback

Wise Feedback: Example 3: Opinion Survey with Written Feedback

Wise Feedback: Additional Considerations. Like all teacher communication tools, wise feedback has constraints attached to its use:

Do not pair grades with wise feedback. When possible, teachers should avoid attaching grades to any student work that contains wise feedback. Students tend to view a summative number or letter grade as the 'real' evaluation of an assignment and are therefore likely to ignore comments that accompany them (Yeager et al., 2013). So grades can 'short-circuit' the positive impact of wise feedback. The reality, however, is that the assignment of grades is usually unavoidable in course work. One strategy to keep wise-feedback and grading separate on an assignment is to return the first draft of the assignment ungraded with wise feedback. The student is then directed to use the feedback to revise the assignment and submit for a grade.

Make student feedback 'ambitious'. In an attempt to bond with unmotivated students, the teacher may commit the errors of over-praising them for mediocre work or providing only easy suggestions for improving the assignment. Either strategy sets a low bar for performance and can backfire. When students sense that instructors have limited expectations of them, they can feel patronized and stereotyped, lose motivation, and further withdraw effort from academic tasks (Yeager et al., 2013). Instead, the teacher should praise work that truly deserves it and offer thoughtful critical feedback that, relative to students' current abilities, taxes them to stretch and expand their skills in a meaningful way.

Use wise feedback with large groups. Although wise feedback is an excellent tool to communicate teacher expectations to individual students, it is just as powerful (and much more efficient) when communicating with the entire class. For example, before handing back graded math tests containing detailed critical feedback, a middle-school math teacher prepares the class, saying:
(High standards) "By grade 7, students are expected to have fully mastered the many math concepts and operations taught in the earlier grades."(Feedback description) "When you look over this diagnostic math test that you took last week, you will see that I have written a number of comments highlighting where you made errors or failed to show or explain your work."(Assurance of student ability) "Judging by past work that I have seen from each of you, I can see that you all have the skills to be strong math students. My comments will point you to where you should put additional effort to ensure success in this course."

References

Cohen, G. L., Steele, C. M., and Ross, L. D. (1999). The mentor's dilemma: Providing critical feedback across the racial divide. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(10), 1302-1318.

Yeager, D. S., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J., Apfel, N., Brzustoski, P., Master, A., Hessert, W. T., & Williams, M. E. (2013). Breaking the cycle of mistrust: Wise interventions to provide critical feedback across the racial divide. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 804-824.

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How to Help Students Accept Constructive Criticism: 'Wise' Feedback

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Teachers of middle and high school students know that these learners sometimes require pointed critical feedback on academic assignments to shape their learning. The reason that most instructors put substantial effort into providing often-detailed performance feedback is clear: to benefit the student.

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Handout to demonstrate Necessary for Some, Good for All

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Key vocabulary terms related to UDL

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Intersections Brief

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Intersections Brief

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Intersections Brief

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How is UDL like bowling?

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Shelley Moore: Transforming Inclusive Education

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Presentation by Todd Rose

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Targeted Learning with Criteria for Success

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Targeted Learning with Criteria for Success

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Helping students monitor progress

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5th Grade Science Lesson about the cell

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Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale | World Science Festival

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Another Version of the Number Simulation Activity

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Another Version of the Number Simulation Activity

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Fold into 3rds one direction and 3rds the other direction. Pattern goes from left to right, top to bottom.

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A video that demonstrates the power of engagement and the connection between purpose and learning

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Highlights how context matters and the impact of Universal Design

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Why We Need Universal Design | Michael Nesmith | TEDxBoulder

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Pre-Assess how your administration provides supports for implementing UDL

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A Tale of Four Districts

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Of District Implementation

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District Implementation with Student Data over time

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Sustaining Effort and Persistence

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Examples of inclusion

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I don't know which side of the fence you are on regarding inclusive education. And for all intents and purposes...it does not matter. This post could just as easily have been called, No...Really...I'm Not Crazy...Inclusive Education Works! Usually, when I talk to people who are not familiar with the idea of having students with disabilities (including significant disabilities) in the general education setting, they say they are having a hard time "wrapping their head around it" or want to see "what it actually looks like." So...just for those of you who need to see it to believe it, I have picked out five videos that will most definitely change your mind about whether inclusive education is really a good thing or not (or at least they should).

Including Issac is a 13-minute video about a boy with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and his story of inclusion in a private Christian school in Michigan. It takes commitment from a school on all levels to make inclusive education work for students with significant disabilities and this a clear example of how coming together for the benefit of one student can benefit all students. Watch this beautifully filmed and powerful video.

This video was made by the Georgia Department of Education (2011) to highlight a pilot inclusive education program for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in cooperation with Cobb County Schools. Check out the follow-up video to see how Damian progressed through his 4th-grade year (from 2014).

Thasya Lumingkewas, 8, has autism and thrives at Maple Wood Elementary School in Somersworth, NH. The school has implemented Response to Intervention (RtI), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This film highlights the power of presuming competence, differentiated instruction and augmentative and alternative communication.

Every year since Kindergarten, Tana Vogele has been included in general education classrooms despite her significant physical and intellectual disabilities. Watch this compelling video about the friendships that have been nurtured during her 4th grade year and what inclusion does to a classroom and school community.

This short film (16:39) focuses on Axel Cortes and the staff at Idelhurst Elementary School in Somersworth, NH. Axel is a fifth grader with autism who is non-verbal and exhibited significant behavioral challenges when he arrived at school. Axel came to Idelhurst during his 5th grade year from another school where he was exclusively in self-contained settings and was being taught preschool/kindergarten level. Through effective implementation of supports - including AAC, UDL, RtI, social stories, visual schedules and positive behavioral supports - Axel was able to learn 5th grade general education curriculum in a general education classroom within a few months. His challenging behaviors also decreased, and he thrived through interaction and engagement with 'typical' peers. Once Axel had an effective means of communication, the staff found that Axel was was bilingual and bi-literate (his family speaks Spanish at home).

This film illustrates the potential for students with significant cognitive disabilities to achieve high academic outcomes. The film has received support from the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC).

The video shows how Axel accesses his environment via Augmentative and Alternative Communication as well as how his classmates accept him into their community. Watch how Axel is learning to type independently and makes strides with communicating his wants and needs in the general education setting.

Sometimes we need to see examples of inclusion to really understand that it is possible and happening all over the world. Perhaps you are the one who can influence your local school to implement inclusive practices.

Tim Villegas is the Director of Communications for MCIE. Editor-in-Chief of Think Inclusive, and the host of the Think Inclusive Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @TheRealTimVegas.

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5 Videos That Will Change Your Mind About Inclusive Education

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Sometimes you need to see it to believe it. So here are five videos that will most definitely change your mind about inclusive education.

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Overview video

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Solution Tree: Rick DuFour on Groups vs. Teams

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Classroom lookfors

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Self-assessment for teachers

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TEDx Talk by Todd Rose

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The Myth of Average:  Todd Rose at TEDxSonomaCounty

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PreK-12: Instructor-Led Course

In this introductory online course for preK-12 educators, participants learn the research basis for UDL, practical applications of UDL to lesson design, and helpful technology tools that support flexible, inclusive instruction.

Monday, September 11 - Monday, December 11, 2023

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Find out more about CAST. We're busting barriers to learning, until learning has no limits®.

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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.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

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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.

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Download to access a pdf version

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Have questions or comments? Looking for more resources?

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Have questions or comments? Looking for more resources?

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Email nicole@lessoncast.com

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Nicole Tucker-Smith's background information

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Does UDL have research supporting it?

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Is UDL primarily used to support students with disabilities?

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UDL just sounds like good teaching. How is this different from what I already do?

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How can I implement UDL with little or no technology?

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How does UDL differ from personalized learning or differentiated instruction?

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How do I have time to incorporate UDL into my lesson planning or class time

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Will my students be prepared for standardized assessments?

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Overview Video

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UDL in Higher Education

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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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Strategies for Students Performing Below Grade Level

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Strategies for Students Performing Below Grade Level

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For comparing and contrasting, lining up parallel differences, and highlighting patterns

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Helping Students Self Monitor Progress

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A format that provides students with personalized feedback and works to keep them from focusing solely on their grade.

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Checking for Student Understanding Cards

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Checking for Student Understanding Cards

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Leveling the Playing Field: Sharing Learning Targets and Criteria for Success

UDL Case Study: Goals

Using UDL to Accurately Assess Student Progress

Creative Approaches to Assessment from a UDL Lens

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Scaffolds to help students give feedback (developing expert learners)

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PDF Download: Ladder of Feedback - Please use with your students. Respond in the comments with what worked and what you would change.
I am working with MYP students on a Design unit at the moment in which they are designing a solution under the umbrella topic of "Improving Lives". Everyone is at the stage of needing feedback on ideas in order to help inform their decision of which idea to pursue in more detail. To guide this process, I went in search of a thinking routine or protocol that might provide some structure to this feedback. This was prompted after discussing the idea of feedback (specifically the feedback I was giving students) with our Head of Upper School and me realizing that I needed to be more intentional in the way I gave feedback. This document from the Oregon Department of Education: Six Insights on Feedback, was a particularly useful refresher on all things Feedback related. I also found this post: Five Evidence Gathering Routines to be another useful one for future reference.

From there, I was inspired by a Mind/Shift post on Developing Students' Ability to Give and Take Effective Feedback. It detailed a High School idea of using DeBono's thinking hats to guide feedback and a modified 'warm/cool' feedback protocol for primary students. While these ideas got me thinking, I was looking for something a little more in depth than the warm/cool and a little more structured - or more specifically, something with a more defined structure already in place.

I came across some work on Student-Centered Peer Assessment that was really helpful. It outlined what peer assessment was, what it was not, and how to use it with students. It also outlined the use of the Ladder of Feedback. A little more investigating led me to this document on the Ladder of Feedback that went into further detail about the origin and the stages in the ladder.

Note: The first document led me to a website that was new to me: Students At The Centre Hub. I haven't had a chance to fully check this out, but it looks pretty good.

I found another resource which led me to add the final stage - giving thanks. I can't remember where I saw this, but I liked the addition (and will try and find where I found this to link back to here).

I used it with my 9th graders and it was pretty successful. It definitely scaffolded the conversations and encouraged participation. Student ideas were validated by their peers and opportunities arose for students to hear concerns and questions. Overall, the students said the protocol was useful and was something they saw as effective in getting information about their ideas. There were some groups who wanted to jump right up to the suggestions but had to slow down and start at the bottom. Some kids found giving thanks quite challenging so we talked about offering thanks for simply sharing your ideas.

I will use this again. I want to listen to what is being said by students and what I am saying as a sentence starter when kids get 'stuck' and see if the text on the sheet doesn't need modifying to make it more effective.
How do you create opportunities for Peer Feedback in your classroom?
Edited to add: A friend (and member of my Mastermind Group) sent me the link to a PDF Download from IDEO called The Feedback Tango. It goes into the nuances between those giving and receiving the feedback and with older students could be analysed as is. Younger students might need help with having it translated into more 'kid speak'. Both groups would "enjoy" doing a little Tango in the classroom 🙂

A mom, educator, designer, creator. I care about kindness, representation, equality, and making a positive contribution. I began teaching in 1997 in New Zealand and have since taught from G1 through G10 in 4 continents. View all posts by Sonya terBorg

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PDF Download: Ladder of Feedback - Please use with your students. Respond in the comments with what worked and what you would change. I am working with MYP students on a Design unit at the moment in which they are designing a solution under the umbrella topic of "Improving Lives".

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UDL Theory and Practice book

UDL Myths and Facts

Visual Concept Map

UDL Exchange

National Center on UDL

BookBuilder

CAST free learning tools

BCSC Tech Tools

UDL Strategies from Goalbook

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                                                                                                                                  Universal Design for Learning and Lesson Planning

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                                                                                                                                  Universal Design for Learning and Lesson Planning

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When the Barriers Aren’t Just Physical (Published 2016)

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The first school we tried was wheelchair-accessible, but there were still barriers. Luckily, the second one found other ways to let my son in.

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Top 10 Tips for Developing Learning Goals

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Top 10 Tips for Developing Learning Goals

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https://padlet.com/CASTUDL/LookingForUDL

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Resources by Principles, Guidelines, and Checkpoints

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Resources by Principles, Guidelines, and Checkpoints

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(download as a PDF)

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Your First Step Toward a UDL-designed Classroom: Change How You Think About Barriers

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Your First Step Toward a UDL-designed Classroom: Change How You Think About Barriers

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Happy Tuesday, #TeamInclusion! I have a guest post today that co-teachers and UDL advocates will want to read and share. It's by Dr. Deborah Taub, a UDL/inclusive ed expert and the Director of Research and Programs at Keystone Assessment. Through some short but powerful vignettes, she shows us what's possible when co-teachers embrace UDL principles while planning instruction for students with special needs.

After you read this, tell us your experience: Does instructional planning in your school sound more like the first or second example? What are your barriers, if any, to adopting the planning approach Mrs. Summers and Mr. Harris took? What resources can we develop to help you? Read on, and then share your thoughts in the comments below!

***

There are often two questions about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that I hear when training:

1. Why would I do this? It is no different from differentiated instruction, and

2. How in the world would I do this? It is huge!

Two quick vignettes of teachers planning for instruction illustrate the answer to both questions.

Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Snyder are planning instruction for Dawn, a student with complex instructional needs who is included in Ms. Jacobs' English class.

Ms. Jacobs: We are reading The Giver for the next couple of weeks. The students will be creating a timeline of a historical event and examining how it connects to their lives as a part of the social studies curriculum.

Mr. Snyder: Dawn can't read, so I don't think The Giver is going to be possible for her. And the subject matter doesn't really connect to her daily life so maybe I'll give her an adapted copy of Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge instead. It also deals with the importance of memories and forgetting and it is written at a second grade reading level so it should be easier to understand than The Giver.

Ms. Jacobs: Oh, that is a great idea. And maybe her timeline could be sequencing from her daily schedule instead of from history?

Now compare these teachers to Mrs. Summers and Mr. Harris, who are also planning for a student with complex instructional needs included in Mrs. Summers' English class.

Mrs. Summers: We are working on the themes and ideas in The Giver. The students will be creating a timeline of a historical event and examining how it connects to their lives as a part of the social studies curriculum.

Mr. Harris: I love that book-but it can be a bit of a barrier for some of our students unless we pair it with some accessibility supports. We can easily get some adapted versions of The Giver and maybe offer students the opportunity to partner read or use their online text readers.

Mrs. Summers: Yes, that makes sense. We may want to highlight key words or pictures to summarize the main points for some of our students who will still need additional help. And while we are at it, let's think about how to make it a bit more engaging for some of our students...maybe we can start with timelines related to their own lives and then move from there to historical events that shaped their world instead of from a historical event to themselves. It can go both ways.

Mr. Harris: Plus we could use some online timeline creation tools, pictures, or text-based timelines to provide students with lots of ways to engage with the timeline and get interested in the task.

The difference between these two conversations is subtle, but it illustrates one of the key ways differentiated instruction and UDL differ-as well as one of the biggest leaps teachers need to make if they are going to move to UDL-designed curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The biggest difference (and the most vital change teachers need to make to move to UDL-designed curriculum, instruction, materials, and assessment) is moving from the idea that the student is what creates barriers to learning to the idea that the curriculum, instruction, materials, and assessment create the barriers. And, while the conversations above may seem only minutely different, the belief that the student has the potential to access and make progress toward any goal significantly changes the way teachers approach planning, instruction, and assessment.

Consider the classic study by Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968) that examined how student performance and teacher expectations were tied together. They found that "when we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur" (Rosenthal and Babad, 1985). Our instructional decisions are based on our expectations, even if we are not necessarily consciously aware of them.

When we work from the premise that the barrier is within the student, then our job as educators is to fix the student so he can access instruction and materials. This belief sets up limits for all the things a school system can't change about a student: missing limbs, intellectual disabilities, an impoverished home, language and cultural differences, etc. When we work from the premise that barriers are within the instruction and materials, then our job as educators is to change instruction and materials to remove and reduce those barriers. We, as educators and school systems have control over those things.

This doesn't mean it isn't difficult. Looking at creating a UDL classroom may seem absolutely overwhelming. Consider the CAST website for their curriculum self-check: it is HUGE. There are so many things to think about. And then, on top of that, for students with complex learning needs you are still probably going to need to add some individualized supports on top of the universally designed curriculum, like Mrs. Summers and Mr. Harris did when they added summarized text or pictures to represent key concepts and ideas from the full text. Conceptualizing the barrier as being within the curriculum, instruction and materials rather than the student may seem overwhelming for what initially seems like a tiny difference in how these two sets of teachers plan and teach. In my experience though, it is that single key difference that helps create a UDL classroom. It is that single key difference that improves students' opportunities to learn and sets up systems that improve student performance. In addition, it is that key difference that sets the stage for inclusive practices. So, if you want to build an inclusive classroom, the biggest step you can take is to change how you think about barriers.

Want to hear more from Deborah Taub? Be sure to check out this podcast she did on alternate assessment over at Think Inclusive, and this post on leaving behind the notion of inclusion as a place.

More on presuming the competence of all learners: "Presuming Competence: What It Is, What It Looks Like"

Deborah Taub is Director of Research and Programs at Keystone Assessment, where she provides research and professional development assistance for states, territories, and other entities working to develop and sustain best practice. She has assisted states in building and evaluating systemic programs, especially around issues of inclusive practice for students with complex instructional needs, such as those with low incidence disabilities or who are dually identified as having a disability and ELL. Dr. Taub has designed, implemented, and evaluated alternate assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities, developed UDL and standards-based curricula and instruction, and conducted validity and alignment evaluations. She's an advisory member of National Center for Universal Design for Learning's UDL Taskforce, and a member of the TASH Inclusive Education Committee and the Council for Exceptional Children's CCSS Advisory Group.

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Your first step toward a UDL-designed classroom: Change how you think about barriers (Guest post) - Brookes Blog

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Happy Tuesday, #TeamInclusion! I have a guest post today that co-teachers and UDL advocates will want to read and share. It's by Dr. Deborah Taub, a UDL/inclusive ed expert and the Director of Research and Programs at Keystone Assessment. Through some short but powerful vignettes, she shows us what's possible when co-teachers embrace UDL principles [...]