Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Students with Disabilities 

By Rose Kilmurray and Michelle Silverman, Wisconsin DPI

Overview of UDL
Students in K-12 public education differ across a variety of characteristics including race, ability, ethnicity, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nation of origin, age, and immigration status.  The ways in which educational systems engage with students’ diverse identities and needs influence the degree of belonging that learners experience as well as their educational outcomes. School administrators play a key role in designing, sustaining, and continuously improving equitable educational systems to meet the diverse needs of all students. Inclusive educational frameworks, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), can serve as a bridge between educational philosophies that embrace diversity as a strength and the design of systems in which each and every student can access, and engage with, meaningful high-quality learning experiences. 

Universal Design for Learning is a conceptual framework for designing instruction that is responsive to learner variability. The goal of UDL is learner agency. The UDL framework is based on Universal Design in architecture, which aims to construct environments that are accessible and usable by all individuals regardless of age or ability. This approach emphasizes inclusion through the elimination of barriers to participation in shared spaces. Similarly, UDL aims to create flexible learning environments by eliminating barriers to meaningful participation in education. “What Universal Design is for the physical environment (curb cuts, ramps, motion-sensor lights), Universal Design for Learning is for education. Educators with a UDL mindset, apply design principles to make learning accessible, usable, and beneficial to each and every person" (Wisconsin Universal Design for Learning).

What Administrators Need to Know
Through the lens of UDL, many of the challenges learners experience in schools result from a curriculum that is not responsive to learner variability. Using the UDL framework, anticipated barriers to learning are addressed at the design phase of instruction. The idea is to maintain firm goals along with providing flexible means for achieving those goals. This approach focuses on fixing the curriculum rather than on “fixing” students. Use of the UDL framework begins with anticipating learner variability to identify potential barriers to established learning goals. Instruction is designed with options to circumvent the identified barriers. 

In practice, UDL is often understood via its three primary principles: multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. The principles of UDL are grounded in research about the three brain networks, which include the recognition system, the strategic system, and the affective system. Each system links to educationally relevant characteristics. 

Table adapted from CAST Universal Design for Learning.

School administrators provide leadership for instructional planning, so it is important that they understand what UDL is and is not. 

UDL is not Differentiation
UDL promotes instructional design with options for all students in mind and emphasizes student choice. Differentiation involves planning instruction with specific students in mind and does not necessarily include student choice. These instructional design approaches can be complimentary. Applying the UDL principles first may reduce time spent planning for differentiation.

UDL is not a Replacement for Accommodations or Modifications Required in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan 
Some tools that were once used only to provide accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities are now available for use by all students. However, even if all students have access to a tool, a student with a disability may require that tool as part of their IEP or 504 plan. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that students with IEPs receive instruction in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Educational environments become less restrictive when schools provide high quality universal instruction for all students along with supplementary aids and services appropriately matched to student needs.

School Administrators Can Take Steps to Promote Use of the UDL Framework within their Schools Multi-Level Systems of Supports (MLSS). 
First, learn more about UDL.  Explore the resources on the Wisconsin Universal Design for Learning webpage and get to know The UDL Guidelines, which provide concrete suggestions for putting the UDL principles into practice. Then collaborate with your leadership team to design professional development that models use of the UDL framework. Below are a few suggestions to get you started. 

• Get to know your audience's professional learning related strengths and needs.
• Ensure that the learning is relevant and framed by clear goals.
• Align each activity with the goals of the session.  
• Avoid overreliance on one presentation mode.   
• Provide opportunities for participants to express their understanding through multiple modes.  (E.g., If the goal of a professional development session is to understand the three UDL principles, participants could express their understanding through discussion, writing, or creating visuals.)  
• Remember firm goals, flexible means. 

Summary
School administrators provide leadership within systems that are charged with meeting the needs of all students. Adopting an instructional design framework, such as UDL, that embraces learner variability supports the development of such systems. “UDL is not a special education initiative, nor a general education initiative…it is every child initiative”(Wisconsin Universal Design for Learning). The UDL framework promotes proactive design to maximize access to learning opportunities so that all students can exercise their agency as learners.