Harvard Education Press

A Policy Reader in Universal Design for Learning

Edited by David T. Gordon, Jenna W. Gravel, and Laura A. Schifter

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) stands at the forefront of contemporary efforts to create access to education curricula for all students, including those with disabilities.

This policy reader comprises a notably wide range of articles that address the challenges and opportunities facing policy makers as they consider UDL’s implications for federal, state, and local policy. It includes essays that place UDL in the context of the education field as a whole and that examine how UDL might inform pressing contemporary discussions about accountability and access to the curriculum. The volume also sheds light on various assistive technologies. It concludes by considering contemporary assessments of student learning and teacher effectiveness, and points to how they might be improved through UDL and by expanding opportunities for learning to more young people.

A timely and much-needed volume, A Policy Reader in Universal Design for Learning brings UDL to the center of discussions about contemporary education policy and reform.

Praise:

“This book gives anyone who cares about equal educational opportunity sufficient knowledge of UDL principles to join efforts to address the most intransigent challenges facing public education today. By imagining all the different ways that people learn, those who apply universal design for learning can make a difference for all individuals.”
—from the foreword by Martha L. Minow, dean of the faculty and Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

“The use of UDL principles will ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to learn. These principles are not only helpful for students with disabilities but they benefit all students by increasing understanding and engagement. An important discussion of needed policy changes, A Policy Reader in Universal Design for Learning will help us incorporate these valuable elements into teaching diverse learners.”
—Dennis Van Roekel, president, National Education Association

“This is a must-read collection for all those who want to understand the genesis and evolution of policy thinking about universal design for learning. One of the most exciting developments in pedagogy in a quarter century, UDL is an essential tool to improving teacher preparation, curriculum design, classroom instruction and assessments. This is a definitive work.”
—Madeleine Will, former U.S. assistant secretary of education; parent advocate

“UDL has the capacity to profoundly remake our education system. This book is an essential primer on UDL and an exhortation for deployment of UDL into the mainstream of education policy.”
—Stephen P. Crosby, dean, McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston

About the Editors

David T. Gordon, Jenna W. Gravel, and Laura A. Schifter work at CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology.