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UDL: Guiding Principles

Action & Expression

REACH-MS is coordinated through the University of Southern Mississippi and is sponsored by a

U.S. Department of Education grant to the Mississippi Department of Education (Grant No H323A210009).

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REACH MS�Realizing Excellence for ALL Children in Mississippi

  • Mississippi’s State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG)
  • Awarded to the Mississippi Department of Education in 2005, refunded in 2010, 2016, and 2021.
  • Operated by the University of Southern Mississippi’s School of Education.
  • Areas of Focus:
      • Academic
        • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
      • Behavior
        • Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
        • Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

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REACH MS Goals

Goal 1: Increase the percentage of K12 students with disabilities who are showing growth in ELA or Math on statewide assessments required for Mississippi students.

    • Integrated Whole-school/Whole-child approach
      • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
      • Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS)
      • Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

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Goal 2: Increase the effectiveness of educators and school leaders in the areas of lesson design, student understanding, culture and learning environments, and professional responsibilities by implementing evidence-based academic and behavioral practices at the student and classroom levels as aligned to the Mississippi Professional Growth System.

    • Alignment to Mississippi’s Professional Growth System
    • Targeted training and action planning based on individual needs assessment

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REACH MS Goals

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Guidelines and Networks

The Learning Networks have corresponding UDL Principles.

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Intro to Action & Expression

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UDL Goal

The goal of UDL is to create Expert Learners.

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Expert Learners are…

The goal of the Action & Expression principle is to develop learners who are resourceful and knowledgeable.

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Provide options for:

Physical Action

Provide options for:

Expression & Communication

Provide options for:

Executive Functions

Goal-Directed

Strategic

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Action & Expression

  • Can students utilize your materials?

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  • Can students show you what they know?

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  • Are students reaching their fullest potential while utilizing materials and showing their understanding?

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  • Are there barriers to accessing your materials or demonstrating their understanding?

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Physical Action

Providing options for physical action means having tools available that students can access and utilize for working with content and demonstrating knowledge of content.

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4.1 Physical Action

Vary the methods for response and navigation

Alternatives for rate, timing, speed, and range of motor action requirements required to interact with materials and technologies

Alternatives for physically responding or indicating selections (alternatives to marking with pen/pencil, mouse, joystick)

Alternatives for interacting with materials by hand, voice, single switch, joystick, keyboard, or adapted keyboard

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4.2 Tools and Assistive Technologies

Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies

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  • Teach use of tools prior to asking students to use them
  • Too much effort on understanding the tools leads to giving up quickly when challenge arises

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Expression & Communication

Providing options for Expression & Communication means offering multiple ways to express ideas and demonstrate knowledge.

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5.1 Multiple Media for Communication

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Use multiple media for communication.

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  • Compose with text, speech, drawing, illustration, design, video, music, dance, art, sculpture, etc.
  • Use manipulatives (blocks, 3D models, base-ten blocks)
  • Use social media and interactive web-based platforms (chat features, storyboards, animated presentations)
  • Solve problems using a variety of strategies

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Focus on composition of ideas, not typing or handwriting.

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5.2 Tools for Construction and Composition

    • Spellcheckers, grammar checkers, word prediction software
    • Text-t0-speech software, human dictation, recording
    • Calculators, graphing calculators, geometric sketchpads, graph paper
    • Sentence starters or sentence strips
    • Story webs, outlining tools, or concept mapping tools
    • Computer-Aided-Design (CAD), music notation (writing) software, or math notation extensions (Equatio)
    • Virtual or concrete math manipulatives (e.g., base-10 blocks, algebra blocks)

Provide:

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5.3 Graduated Levels of Support

Build fluencies for graduated levels of support for practice and performance.

Provide:

    • Differentiated models (same outcome but different approaches, strategies)
    • Differentiated mentors (teachers or tutors who use different approaches to motivate, guide, inform or deliver feedback)
    • Scaffolds with gradual release as student independence/fluency increases
    • Differentiated feedback
    • Multiple examples of novel solutions to authentic problems

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Executive Function

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Executive Function Limitations

Executive function skills rely on working memory.

    • A student is not fluent in a skill and working memory is devoted to responses that are not automatic
    • A higher-level disability affecting executive function and/or working memory is present

Executive function is reduced when:

    • Explicit instruction in executive function strategies
    • Scaffolding for variation in executive functioning

To address variation in executive function:

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Executive Functions

Providing options for executive functions means students have multiple, manageable means to achieve a goal and having a plan to get there.

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6.1 Goal-setting

Guide appropriate goal-setting.

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Provide:

    • Prompts and scaffolds to help estimate effort, resources, and difficulty
    • Models or examples of the product and process of goal-setting
    • Guides and checklists for scaffolding goal-setting
    • Post goals, objectives, and schedules in an obvious place

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Setting Goals

  • Review goals to make sure they are

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    • Relevant
    • Important
    • Interesting
    • Useful

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  • Goals should be challenging enough to inspire growth, but not so daunting that they create a fear of failure.

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Whatihavelearnedteaching.com

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6.2 Planning and strategy development

Support planning and strategy development

Embed prompts to “stop and think”

Embed prompts to “show and explain your work”

Provide checklists and project planning templates for understanding problems, prioritizing, sequencing, and scheduling of steps

Model think-alouds of processes

Provide guides for breaking long-term goals into reachable short-term objectives

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6.1 and 6.2 Examples

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Examples of Strategy Development

Annotated Essays

Exemplars

Modeled Writing Assignments

Problem Solving Checklists

Visual Behavior Posters

Writing Checklists

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6.3 Managing Information and Resources

Facilitate managing information and resources.

  • Provide templates for data collection
  • Provide graphic organizers for organizing information
  • Embed prompts for categorizing and systematizing
  • Provide checklists and guides for note-taking

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6.4 Monitoring Progress

Ask

Ask questions to guide self-monitoring and reflection

Show

Show representations of progress (before/after photos, graphs and charts showing progress over time, process portfolios)

Prompt

Prompt learners to identify type of feedback or advice they are seeking

Use

Use templates that guide self-reflection on quality and completeness

Provide

Provide differentiated models of self-assessment strategies (role-playing, video reviews, peer feedback)

Use

Use assessment checklists, scoring rubrics, and multiple examples of annotated student work

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Monitoring Progress

  • How much support will I get?

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  • Will I get support?

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  • Will I be coached or taught to do this?

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  • Will I have enough time to do this?

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  • Will there be obstacles that prevent me from doing this?

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Whatihavelearnedteaching.com

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Goalbookapp.com

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Reflection

Engagement

Representation

Action & Expression

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Using the UDL: Guiding Principles Reflection document in your manual, record two thoughts:

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  1. Do you feel like you are already implementing some of the ACTION & EXPRESSION checkpoints?

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  • List the areas you are already implementing in the ACTION & EXPRESSION column.

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Teacher Growth Rubric Alignment

Growth Rubric Standard 2

Action & Expression Principle

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Teacher Growth Rubric Alignment

Growth Rubric Standard 3

Action & Expression Principle

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Teacher Growth Rubric Alignment

Growth Rubric Standard 4

Action & Expression Principle

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Teacher Growth Rubric Alignment

Growth Rubric Standard 5

Action & Expression Principle

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Let’s Take A Look

PLACE VIDEO HERE

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Reflection

Potential Barriers

UDL Solutions

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Using the Action & Expression Barriers document in your manual, record two thoughts:

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1. List problem areas (Potential Barriers) in your practice that could be related to Action & Expression. 

Examples:

      • Your student seems to know more than he/she produces.
      • You see task avoidance or refusal to produce work.
      • Students are careless or unmotivated.
      • Students are unable to complete complex tasks.

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2. Align your problem area with the Action & Expression Checkpoints on the UDL Framework and determine what you can add or subtract to begin resolving your issue(s).

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Contact Info

Paige Davis, M.Ed.

Academic Specialist

Paige.davis@usm.edu

601.266.4693

reachms@usm.edu

www.reachms.org

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