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Terms For Use

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Universal Design for Learning Schoolwide Implementation Criteria

California Coalition for Inclusive Learning Presents: Through the Lens of UDL Webinar Series

March 31, 2025 | 3:30 - 4:30 PST

bit.ly/UDL-SIC3

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CCIL Leadership

@CAST_UDL | #CASTPL

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County Office of Education Partners

@CAST_UDL | #CASTPL

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Meet Your Facilitators

Elisa Torres-Barton, Ed.D.�CCIL Project Director, CAST

Heather Fujita

CCIL Project Coordinator, PCOE

@CAST_UDL

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Options for Engagement�Feel free to:

Introduce yourself

Ask or answer �a question

Share an idea or a connection

Visit CCIL’s universal resources at ccil.cast.org/

@CAST_UDL

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Inclusive Welcoming

Share in the Chat:

One word that describes how you're arriving today, and where you're Zooming in from or your current role.

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Your Learning Environment

Slides: bit.ly/UDL-SIC3
Resources:

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Agenda

Welcome & Guiding Question
UDL Foundations & Barriers
Reflection & Engagement
UDL-SIC Domains & Application
Closing Reflection & Next Steps

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Today’s Goals

By the end of this session, participants will:

Understand how UDL-SIC connects to school improvement.
Identify system barriers impacting learner access and inclusion.
Explore key UDL-SIC domains and their applications.
Commit to one action step for implementation.

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UDL Recap

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UDL Foundational Principles and Design Process

The barrier is in the design, not the learner.	Variability is the norm.�It is contextual. It can be planned for.	The goal of UDL is to develop�learner agency.
	UDL Design Process
Set Clear, Rigorous Goals	��Anticipate Variability	Design Options to�Minimize Barriers

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Agency may sound like…

“I know how to Communicate and Organize my learning!”

“I know what Engages me!”

“I know what tools I need to Perceive and Build Understanding!”

@CAST_UDL | #CASTPL

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Minimizing Barriers to Increase Access and Agency

Universal Design for Learning provides access and agency by removing barriers, and empowering learners to decide what tools they need.

@CAST_UDL | #CASTPL

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Integrated Improvement

How might UDL support learner access and agency in our initiatives?

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Guiding Question

In what ways, might the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the UDL School Implementation Criteria (UDL-SIC) support our improvement efforts?

@CAST_UDL

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Tools to Support Variability

Guidelines

School Implementation Criteria (SIC)

Classroom

Schoolwide

@CAST_UDL

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Cross Cutting Concepts

Equitable, inclusive, and accessible
Honor variability
Minimize barriers
Developing learner agency
Data-driven, iterative processes

@CAST_UDL

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Barriers Exist in…

Instructional Design Areas

System Design Areas (Domains)

School Culture & Environment

Teaching & Learning

Leadership & Management

Professional Learning

Methods

Materials

Assessment

Environment

Goals

@CAST_UDL

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UDL & SIC Theory of Change

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What is a Barrier?

A component of the instructional design that could prevent learners from making progress toward a goal.

Where do I find them?

Goals
Instructional methods
Materials
Assessments
Learning Environment

Examples

Text complexity
Writing as the only means for expression
Lecture as the only means of learning new information
Irrelevance or lack of clear purpose
Emotional threats or distractions

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What is a System Barrier?

A component of the system design that could prevent learners from making progress toward a goal.

Where do I find them?

Cultural Norms
Curriculum
Systems
Leadership & Management
Learning Environment

Examples

UDL is seen as a SPED function
Curricular adoptions & Access
Time for design and collaboration
Communication & Purpose (The Why)
Competing Initiatives
Bargaining Units
Policy

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Equity Pause

Are there specific populations that the system is not serving well?
What do you want to know about their experience?

@CAST_UDL

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Reflect and Share

What resonates so far?
What are you wrestling with?
What might work in your context?

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What are the UDL-Schoolwide Implementation Criteria?

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What are the �UDL School Implementation Criteria?

The UDL-SIC contains a set of criteria that:

Reflects the principles of UDL across a school
Defines UDL implementation at the school level to drive school improvement
Provides school teams with the structure to assess, plan, design, measure, monitor and demonstrate successful inclusive, equitable learning environments

Heather

At the foundation, it is a set of criteria - or elements, that define quality school implementation.

Its different from other frameworks or continuous improvement model in that it focuses directly on UDL principles and beliefs, with the goal of creating equitable and inclusive learning environments that support all students on their journey to become expert learners. And like UDL the framework has enough flexibility in the design of the criteria and indicators to make room for connecting UDL work with other frameworks like Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) or School improvement.

And because its a systemic, design based process, it provides teams with the structure needed to move through an improvement process - including strategies for looking at data, designing plans and tools to monitor and demonstrate success.

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UDL-SIC Domains

School Culture and Environment

Teaching and Learning

Leadership and Management

Professional Learning

@CAST_UDL | #CASTPL

Heather

Bucketize or levers that you can pull to intentionally design for access and equity.

School Culture and Environment Domain�create a culture and environment that values equity, inclusion, and expert learning for all. high expectations for all. consider variability to support inclusion and become expert learners.

Teaching and Learning Domain �anticipate learner variability ; expert learner; proactively and iteratively design curricular goals, assessments, methods, and materials to reduce barriers to learning. all interactions at the school are viewed as learning opportunities and designs them with UDL in mind.

Leadership and Management Domain

leaders actively support and monitor UDL implementation across school settings. model UDL practices and ensure that all learning environments school processes, procedures, and resources, are designed to anticipate learner variability by reducing barriers and promoting equity, inclusion, and expert learning for all.

Professional Learning Domain �personalized and job-embedded, professionals to be flexible, data-driven, and goal-directed, and to promote the development of educators’ expertise.

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Pause and Reflect

Options for Engagement

Choose one or all questions:

Chat feature
Unmute Yourself
Think to yourself

As you reflect on your context, what systems are already in place that support each domain?

School Culture & Environment (i.e. PBIS)
Teaching & Learning (i.e. rubrics)
Leadership & Management (i.e. master schedule revision process)
Professional Learning (i.e. teacher based learning progression)

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UDL Schoolwide Implementation Criteria

How might any of these considerations support our improvement efforts?

Link to digital copy

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UDL Schoolwide Implementation Criteria - Domain View

By Domain View

How might any of these considerations support our improvement efforts?

Link to digital copy

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Notice - Think - Wonder

Options for Engagement

Choose one or all questions:

Chat feature
Unmute Yourself
Think to yourself

Notice: What stands out to you at first glance?
Think: Which domain do you think is the area of strength or growth in your school/district?

School Culture and Environment
Teaching and Learning
Leadership and Management
Professional Learning

Wonder: What questions or ideas does this framework spark for you?

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But how might we use it to support improvement efforts?

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Optional Organizer

Define the Goal for UDL
Vision for Learning
Determine the Problem
Anticipate Barriers
From Reflection into Action

Link Optional UDL-SIC Planning Organizer

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Let’s Try It

After exploring your data:

Climate Culture Survey
Empathy Interviews
…

Teachers state that there is a lack of time, relevance and safety to�apply the new learning.

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Using the SIC to Support Improvement Efforts : Goal

Define the Goal for UDL
Vision for Learning
Determine the Problem
Anticipate Barriers
From Reflection into Action

Optional UDL-SIC Planning Organizer

Problem of Practice: Our current system is currently designed so that…Teachers feel that there is a lack of time, relevance and safety to apply the new learning.

Share out! What are some other ways UDL could support this improvement effort?

UDL might help us to design a system that…

Aligns initiatives
Supports planning for all versus “average”
Support a coherent professional learning
…

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Using the SIC to Support Improvement Efforts: Vision

Share out! What might be the vision for our school around this problem of practice?

Possible Examples:

Educators feel safe to try new practices
Learning is happening with and between colleagues
…

Define the Goal for UDL
Vision for Learning
Determine the Problem
Anticipate Barriers
From Reflection into Action

Link Optional UDL-SIC Planning Organizer

Problem of Practice: Our current system is currently designed so that…Teachers feel that there is a lack of time, relevance and safety to apply the new learning.

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Using the SIC to Support Improvement Efforts: Problem

Share out! What questions and data gathering tools that might help us explore where our system is towards that vision?

One Example:

Question: To what extent do our teachers/ students feel safe to apply new learning?
Instruments: Climate/culture survey, empathy interview/mapping

Define the Goal for UDL
Vision for Learning
Determine the Problem
Anticipate Barriers
From Reflection into Action

Link Optional UDL-SIC Planning Organizer

Problem of Practice: Our current system is currently designed so that…Teachers feel that there is a lack of time, relevance and safety to apply the new learning.

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Using the SIC to Support Improvement Efforts: Barriers

Share out! What barriers might exist in one or more of the four domains?

One Example: Professional Learning

Evaluation process penalizes risk taking
Professional learning not aligned to the needs of the teacher/students
Initiative fatigue

Define the Goal for UDL
Vision for Learning
Determine the Problem
Anticipate Barriers
From Reflection into Action

Link Optional UDL-SIC Planning Organizer

Problem of Practice: Our current system is currently designed so that…Teachers feel that there is a lack of time, relevance and safety to apply the new learning.

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Using the SIC to Support Improvement Efforts: Action

SIC ideas on how to support this vision in…

Professional Learning: Personalized and Job-Embedded

Element 1: UDL professional learning is goal-driven.
Element 2: UDL professional learning is flexible in addressing staff variability.
Element 3: UDL professional learning supports learner agency.
Element 4: UDL professional learning integrates job-embedded support.

Define the Goal for UDL
Vision for Learning
Determine the Problem
Anticipate Barriers
From Reflection into Action

Link Optional UDL-SIC Planning Organizer

Problem of Practice: Our current system is currently designed so that…Teachers feel that there is a lack of time, relevance and safety to apply the new learning.

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Reflection into Action

As reflect on either this problem of practice or your own context…

Which element(s) could address a problem of practice currently present in your system?

Link to Take and Share Document

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Let’s Share What’s Possible

Unmute or drop your action ideas in the chat.

Possible examples:

Element 1: Goal-driven�Already in place: Staff survey identifies professional learning (PL) needs and interests�Could add: Structured template to revisit goals and apply PL outcomes during PLCs�

Element 4: Job-embedded� Already in place: Walkthrough tool supports application of new learning

Could add: Teacher-led instructional rounds to promote peer learning

Use these ideas as inspiration—take one with you, adapt it, or share it with your team!