In Service of Equity? Exploring UDL's Transformative Potential

In Service of Equity?

Exploring Universal Design for Learning's Transformative Potential

A special issue of Multiple Voices: Disability, Race, and Language Intersections in Special Education

Guest editors:

Beth Fornauf (CAST)

Jenna W. Gravel (CAST)

Bryan Mascio (Harvard Graduate School of Education)

T. Nicole Tucker-Smith (Lessoncast)

a frozen water droplet on leaves in front of a blurry sunset background

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Guest Editors' Introduction to Supplemental Content

As described in the guest editors' introduction of this Multiple Voices issue (volume 23, issue 2), we were committed to exploring Universal Design for Learning not only in the articles' contents , but also in how we shared and presented those contents. While there are space limitations to what can appear in print within a journal's pages, we were fortunate to work with Multiple Voices editors to offer this supplemental content as part of the special issue. We were committed to sharing student perspectives, which appear here, with various formats for presentation. We have also included a companion piece for T. Nicole Tucker-Smith's contribution, which offers a metaphor for enacting equity in the classroom. Finally, we offer links to the full captioned audio versions and transcripts for Natalie Thoreson's interview, and Lelia Twobears and Jessica O'Reilly's podcast, both of which appeared as excerpts in the printed journal. We encourage the audience to explore their full conversations using the links shared here.

Links to each contribution are provided in the toolbar at the top of this page.

Student Perspective: Ava Genova

Throughout my college career at Bryant University, I found a passion for advocating for students with a disability; however, it eventually evolved to every student. With that, I became President of an honor society, Delta Alpha Pi, which recognizes academic excellence for students with mental, physical, and learning disabilities. During my presidency, I organized and hosted events around neurodiversity and disability to break the stigma and start the conversation.

If you were to tell me ten weeks ago that I’d be writing for an education journal, I would have never believed you… but here I am being asked to “give my advice to a teacher in terms of building a more inclusive and equitable classroom”. I never pictured myself to be as successful as I am, especially because I struggled all my life with my learning disability. Some people do not realize the amount of physical, emotional, and mental stress that comes along with having a learning disability. However, I turned that struggle into grit and passion and began advocating for others. As a senior in college, I am proud to say that I have successfully turned that passion into a reality by hosting a conference for faculty and staff revolving around the intersection of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). I took my own personal experience as a student as well as the experience of other students and began to think of ways we all can be more inclusive and create a sense of belonging for all students within our community. The same experiences that led me to initiate the conference are also why I’m excited to offer my advice in this education journal.

When I was first thinking about this question, a lot came to mind, but when I really thought about it, I narrowed it down to three things: Building Relationships With Your Students, Examining How Your Biases Drive Your Instruction, and Adopting Inclusive Pedagogy. I believe if an instructor focuses on these three things, their students are more likely to actively participate and engage, which ultimately leads to a positive outcome: success.

Building Relationships With Your Students

“Hi. How are you?”

A greeting. A question. A simple gesture that can go a long way. As a student myself, I feel as if many teachers tend to forget that their students are also human beings going through this thing we call life. Instead of jumping right into the class material, why not build rapport with your students? Why not see how they are truly doing as humans, not just as a student? Why not foster a learning environment that gives them a sense of belonging? In my own experience, I have learned more when my instructor, whether that was in k-12 or post-secondary school, took the time to actually get to know me and my peers. Students were more engaged, they felt more comfortable talking and asking questions. Not only that, but students established better relationships with their teachers and/or professors, and even felt comfortable confiding in them. Furthermore, instructors were able to tell when the class mood was off which would dictate how the class would run that day.

Instructors who have built this type of relationship with their classes can more easily tell what their students need and change their class plan accordingly to ensure that everyone is gaining the best education possible. I believe when an educator and their students have a good relationship, it inclines the students to want to participate and engage in the classroom more. An important factor of inclusive teaching is not just about providing content and knowledge, but rather understanding each student and the ways that all of them can learn and grow individually.

Examining How Your Biases Drive Your Instruction

“You’re not Black because you’re also White” … I was in shock. I didn’t know how to respond. How can one just dismiss part of my identity? More importantly, how could someone involved in a university’s diversity and inclusion efforts say that to me? At that moment I began to feel like I did in middle school. Just based on my skin tone, people treated me as if I wasn’t white enough to be White, and I wasn’t black enough to be Black. It's not surprising that an individual who doesn't share the same identity may not understand me; I am both, Black and White. People tend to only think about identity from their own perspective which is why implicit biases are so detrimental.

Not all biases would result in such a bold and harmful statement but given the number of students whose identities don't match their instructors, all must regularly examine their biases and adjust their instruction to address them. One immediate way to do this is by diversifying the material being presented in class. Many students find it easier to relate to and understand what they are learning when they are presented with materials that represent their backgrounds or circumstances. Letting students partake in a firsthand experience with diverse perspectives and opinions, allows for their critical thinking skills and understanding of different backgrounds and cultures to improve. Moreover, I found that these classroom settings provided students with a safe haven and made each student feel included regardless of their individual identities. By forming an inclusive and equitable classroom, it illustrates a diverse and supportive learning environment by taking into account each student's needs. As an instructor, it is essential to know and understand the blocks, barriers, or boundaries that could prevent a student from being successful within your class.

Adopting Inclusive Pedagogy

Everyone learns differently, so why can't I learn like me? Throughout my academic career I have encountered a lot of hardships, whether that was not being able to comprehend the material as fast as my peers, or not being able to finish a test in the allotted time period, or simply feeling discouraged and not mentally present. I vividly remember going into both my freshman year of high school and college feeling lost and defeated. Why? Because I was behind my peers. I didn’t understand the material like my peers. I couldn’t pick it up as fast as they could. At these times I always questioned my ability and how smart I am. I would study the material for hours on my own time and still not fully understand the point of what I was learning. However, in both situations, I learned to advocate for myself by going to see a tutor and/or the instructor of the class.

I believe when teachers and professors take accountability and focus on acknowledging that each student learns differently, the classroom environment has a completely different atmosphere. If instructors come to understand the blocks, barriers, or boundaries that could prevent a student from being successful within their class, then they can adjust their pedagogy accordingly. All teachers and professors should invest time in modifying their teaching strategies to meet the needs of all their students. Furthermore, students have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the classroom, whether that's having reading difficulties or being proficient in math or simply just having trouble staying focused. However, that does not mean one student is smarter than the other. By using UDL to cultivate different forms of assessments and assignments, each student will be able to showcase their strengths and the knowledge that they have gained. Ultimately, the desired outcome is to make sure that no individual is left behind due to the simple fact that they need a different kind of support than their peers.

Ava Genova, a mixed-race student in a black blazer

Student Perspective: Lilly Shaw

Lilly Shaw is a freshman at The George Washington University studying STEM and music. Lilly is from Washington D.C. and loves singing, writing, and meeting new people. She is passionate about accessibility initiatives, inclusive education, and listening to varied perspectives in education and society at large.

Note on navigation: Use the scroll bar or arrow icon to view all three pages of Lilly Shaw's article

Lilly Shaw, wearing a black dress with floral pink print, posing and smiling beside pink cherry trees and a body of water.

Student Perspectives: Anusha Nadkarni & Rose Clubok, Diversify Our Narrative (DON)

Anusha Nadkarni, an Indian woman in a white dress standing underneath a chandelier and smiling.

Anusha Nadkarni is a freshman at Stanford University studying Public Policy and Education. She is passionate about culturally responsive education, student voice, and emphasizing strong communities as the most important asset to our collective future. A proud Midwesterner, Anusha loves hiking, live music, and spending time with her dog Aadi.

Rose Clubok, a white young woman in a green sweater smiling.

Rose Clubok is a sophomore at Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she studies History, Education, and Jewish Philosophy. She believes in the liberatory potential of education, and is proud to contribute to Diversify Our Narrative's efforts towards this goal.

How we teach is just as important as what we teach. In traditional educational systems, teachers are often tasked with arbitrating what the students should and will become. But in creating a curriculum that deconstructs hierarchy, we seek to interrogate hierarchy in all spaces, including in classroom instruction. Who are these hierarchical models serving? How do they impact teaching and learning? What responsibilities do teachers have for students? What do those responsibilities look like outside of preparation for standardized testing?

According to sociocultural learning theory, "Human learning presupposes a specific social nature and a process by which children grow into the intellectual life of those around them.” Theorist Jean Lave argues that this type of learning is situated in communities of practice, and the participant both learns from the community and is a part of creating the community. She writes that "Developing an identity as a member of a community and becoming knowledgably skillful are part of the same process, with the former motivating shaping, and giving meaning to the latter, which it subsumes." Of what kinds of communities do we want our students to be a part? What kinds of identities as learners and community members do we want them to have? Paulo Freire similarly sees learning as fundamentally relational: "Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” For Vygotsky, Lave, and Freire, the process of learning is a process of relation, of interacting with the world and with other people. This framework seeks to emphasize the sociocultural basis of learning by focusing on how students relate to each other and how the educator relates to the students.

As an educator, you have the unique purpose of shaping children’s lives. Martin Buber defines education as the giving of “decisive effective power to a selection of the world which is concentrated and manifested in the educator. The relation in education is lifted out of the purposelessly streaming education of all things, and is marked off as purpose.” You give all the disparate and seemingly tangential information of the world a direction and present this to your students. You help them make meaning out of an overwhelming world. In some ways, this places you in the position of the keeper of official knowledge. Therefore, the knowledge you present – and how you present it – will in many ways become your students’ picture of the world. In consciously working against hierarchy and towards a relational model of education, you shape a new vision of the world for your students. Diversify Our Narrative’s (DON’s) suggestions for educators are rooted in creating this type of new model of education.

What is DON?

Diversify Our Narrative (DON) is a 100% grassroots organization composed of high school and college students throughout the U.S. pushing for equitable, long-lasting reform within our school districts. The centerpiece of this movement is around the concept to #DiversifyOurNarrative through the books, curriculum, and teaching practices we engage in. We believe that all students deserve an anti-racist, inclusive and empowering education!

Links to pages:

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Classroom activities should be designed with accessibility in mind – students of all backgrounds and abilities should feel comfortable engaging with classroom content. We recommend CAST’s framework which encourages educators to follow the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines to do this. Linked here, the guidelines provide students with unbarred access to classroom materials while ensuring that they are still challenged by their education. Use this graphic organizer to help you create or revise your classroom activities to be more accommodating.
Student-centered learning: Student-centered learning allows students to practice autonomy in their education. This method of teaching encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning by centering classroom instruction on the students’ own overlapping lived experiences (i.e. socioeconomic background, racial/cultural background, political socialization, etc.). By assuming that all students come into the classroom with important knowledge and skills to share, lessons are created to expand on the students’ valid experiences while adhering to educational expectations.
Non-hierarchical ways of teaching and learning: Often, educational institutions tend to follow a teaching dynamic that assumes that students hold no knowledge of their own, and it is up to the classroom instructor to “fill” them with knowledge. To promote a growth-centered learning environment, we encourage educators to follow ways of instruction that do not perpetuate a “hierarchy.” Our guide reinforces the importance of not conflating responsibility with authority, supporting educators in creating a safe learning environment that allows students to learn leadership skills while engaging with educational content.
Critical Consciousness: Critical consciousness is the critical lens to recognize and analyze systems of inequality in any context with a commitment to take action against these systems. Paulo Freire, the main proponent of critical consciousness, proposed a cycle of learning that involves gaining knowledge about the systems and structures that create and sustain inequity, developing a sense of agency, and ultimately committing to taking critical action against oppressive systems. Our students are already capable and powerful changemakers, but it is on us to create a space where this critical analysis, agency, and action can flourish. How do we give the students the tools to recognize systems of oppression? How do we help them understand their positionality and role in fighting against injustice? How can we use our classrooms to cultivate radical imagination and critical thinking? It includes Critical reflection (also called social analysis): learning to question social structures, Critical motivation (also called political agency): perception of the ability or desire to address injustice, and Critical action (also called social action): working to change injustices. See our Critical Consciousness workbook for more information about Critical Consciousness.
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: A teaching practice that is rooted in the importance of honoring a students cultural background in all aspects of learning. The two major questions CRP asks includes, who makes up the community I serve? What are their strengths? What are their needs? See our Anti-Racist workbook for more information about Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.
Purpose Beyond Standards Because standards are so closely tied with measuring and quantifying learning in rigid and output-focused ways, we believe that standards should not be the start or end point of learning. We suggest that educators think about what their goals are for their lessons outside of state-mandated standards.
Processing Content by Sharing Students need the opportunity to process the information, ideas, and perspectives that they are exposed to through the methods. They need a chance to share their thoughts, feelings, and questions about what they have just learned. Taking time to process content is also a good way for the educator to see where the students are at with the content and framing. Maybe the students resonate with this content or perspective, or maybe they don’t understand it yet and need a different framing or method to reach the goals of the lesson.
Transitions to Prepare for Collective Learning It’s important for students to take a moment to prepare for the lesson and for discussing and working together. Focusing student learning on relationality means setting up the structures for students to practice relating directly to each other. Depending on your goal of the lesson, this can be quiet and contemplative or interactive and collaborative.

Opportunities to Create and Build: Instead of measuring or quantifying students through formal assessments, we suggest that educators give students the opportunity to create and build. Measuring and quantifying students limits the scope of learning and stifles creativity and motivated engagement. Creating and building, especially collaboratively, gives students a chance to connect with the material in a new and meaningful way.

A graphic with DON's Ideas at the center, above the words for building inclusive and equitable classrooms. Around the center are outward pointing arrows, each pointing to one of the ideas mentioned in the text

Bringing Light to Our Shadows

A Companion to A UDL Plus Equity Approach to Dismantle Disproportionality: Perspective, Process, and Promise

T. Nicole Tucker-Smith

Achieving the promise of equitable education requires purposefully challenging and shifting underlying values embedded within the established system. In order to gain an informed assessment of current values and culture in the American educational context, we need to look back to the origins of public education in the United States. The Common School Movement led by Horace Mann established a one-teacher-room-full-of-students model, which most classrooms still resemble (Warder, n.d.). While the establishment of a free, public education system had certain benefits, Horace Mann indorsed the Common School Movement as the best method for civilizing unruly American children into productive citizens by aiming to “universalize the values and beliefs of the mainstream Protestant middle class of the North” (Warder, n.d.).

Acknowledging the historic foundations of public education, educators applying a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach must be wary of universalizing their personal and cultural values and assuming that their beliefs are universal or superior. Well-intentioned leaders often believe that the need to change hearts and minds is at the root of our inequitable outcomes; but as discussed in A UDL Plus Equity Approach, people have to change their minds for themselves But for a moment, let’s picture something with actual roots, like a tree. At Lessoncast, our team pairs a UDL plus Equity approach with our TREE model – Together Re-Envision Equity.

The Together Re-Envision Equity (TREE) Model

Imagine standing before a tree that is failing to produce quality fruit and trying to get better fruit by telling the tree to change its mindset, be more dedicated, work harder, work smarter, or think differently. This approach to horticulture will produce disappointing results every time. Harvesting quality fruit starts by paying attention to what’s beneath the surface. Tree roots anchor the tree and bring in nutrients and water from the soil. Then the trunk transports those nutrients and provides support to the branches, which support the leaves, flowers, and fruit.

In education, the roots are our values, and the soil is our culture. If we want our trees – our schools – to produce better fruit, we need to check our soil and nourish our roots. Tending to the roots involves reflecting and asking what do we value most? Who do we aspire to be? As we clarify the values that keep us rooted and pay attention to the culture that keeps us grounded, then we look at our learning spaces and systems that serve as the trunk of the tree. What interactions are our existing structures incentivizing? How is our use of space and time shaping current results? The spaces that we operate in and the systems we repeat establish our foundation and provide strength and consistency like the trunk of a tree.

That trunk holds up the branches and leaves, which are our habits and instructional practices - the ways in which we reach out and choose to act in daily moments. How do we encourage desired practices to become habits in daily moments? What supports will facilitate the adoption of flexible teaching and learning practices? In the same way that leaves absorb light and produce the food that trees need to grow, our everyday actions feed our results. It’s when people see better results, that hearts and minds begin to change. Those hearts and minds are like flowers on the tree; each one will open and bloom in its own time if we tend to the roots, trunk, and branches. What mindsets will we model? What stories will be shared? Nourishing the real roots brings about a healthy educational organization and produces the fruit – the student outcomes and opportunities that we aim to achieve. How do we elevate student voices? How do we ensure that every learner has access to aspirational options and opportunities? And that fruit, self-actualized learners, eventually falls from the tree and plants its own seeds.

References

Warder, G. (n.d.). Horace Mann and the Creation of the Common School. The Disability History Museum. https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=42

T. Nicole Tucker-Smith, a Black woman in a green dress speaking into a microphone and looking hopeful.

T. Nicole Tucker-Smith is founder and CEO of Lessoncast, an organization focused on putting equity-oriented professional learning into effective practice.

Podcast Audio

Below are the full audio of the podcasts featured in the special issue of Multiple Voices. Links to the podcasts and transcripts for "Colonization, Liberation, and Universal Design for Learning" (Thoreson & Botkin-Levy) and "Does it Always Need to Be Such a Fight" (Twobears & O'Reilly) are provided below.

Natalie (she/they/he) has facilitated anti-oppression workshops for over 20 years, founding rEVOLution with the goal of findin’ the LOVE in revolution. Her techniques foster critical examination of systems of oppression, and the way we have been socialized to uphold these systems of inequality. He believes that creating loving, interdependent communities is the heart of true rEVOLutionary change. Natalie resides on the rightful lands of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, in what is now known as Oakland, CA with their life partner Gin, dog Tasi, and two stinky guinea pigs.

Elena Botkin-Levy, from the waist up, wearing a black shirt with arms crossed, standing in front of a brick wall.

Elena Botkin-Levy has worked at the intersection of audio production, education and media-making for over 20 years. With a focus on amplifying queer voices as a storyteller, Elena started in community radio and learned that holding space, asking questions and documenting is powerful. Drawn to oral histories as an opportunity to map our own narratives, she started GEMS Oral Histories & Audio Storytelling to support individuals and communities in saving and honoring stories that matter.

• A close-up of Lelia Twobears, whose face is framed by her long dark hair.

My Spirit Name is Fall Rain Woman and my English name is Lelia Twobears. I am of mixed Cree Indigenous heritage, originally from Grand Rapids Manitoba, self-identifying. I grew up as a Crown Ward in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. I am a full-time working Momma Bear of five, and I’m currently completing my General Arts and Science Diploma at Cambrian College. I hope to continue on to university to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. I am a deaf student/individual. My goal is to be a helper in our community.

• A selfie of Jessica O’Reilly from the shoulders up, standing in front of a lake wearing a green jacket and blue Under Armor visor.

Jess is a person of mixed Euro-Canadian and Algonquin Anishinaabe heritage currently living in N'Swakamok (Sudbury, Ontario). She teaches and coordinates three of the General Arts and Sciences programs offered at Cambrian College, and is in the final stages of completing her Doctor of Education – Distance Education degree at Athabasca University. Jess is passionate about amplifying student voices and perspectives to help identify and reduce barriers to educational equity.

Explore the audio for "Colonization, Liberation, and Universal Design for Learning" Podcast

Transcript

Explore the audio for the "Does It Always Need to Be Such a Fight?" Podcast

Transcript

The guest editors would like to thank CAST for graciously hosting the podcast content as part of this special issue of Multiple Voices in order to ensure its accessibility and ongoing availability.

We are also grateful to Lessoncast and GEMS Oral Histories for making the "Colonization, Liberation, and Universal Design for Learning" podcast possible.