Research, Design, & Development
As part of our mission to bust all barriers to learning, CAST researches, designs, and develops innovative solutions to make education more inclusive and effective. We do so by applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning, a framework rooted in the learning sciences. CAST routinely partners with leading research organizations, institutions of higher education, corporations, and foundations to pursue this work.
UDL has come to dominate the field because of its broad applicability and its research foundation in the learning sciences, both cognitive and neurosciences.
National Education Technology Plan, U.S. Department of Education
Featured Projects
REVISE Center: A Collaborative Effort to Advance Equity in Informal STEM Education
We're helping to create more accessible and universally-designed tools for the NSF AISL Resource Center.
Circle Up: Integrating Academic, Social & Emotional Learning
We're co-designing a training program that uses the UDL framework to weave together academic, social, and emotional learning strategies and best practices.
MindPrint SBIR: Addressing Learner Variability in Secondary Mathematics Instruction
Learn how we're equipping educators with data to address student variability across cognitive, social-emotional, and academic skills
OASIS: Empowering Science Teachers with Research-based Coaching
We're designing sustainable, enhanced professional development for our universally designed digital science notebook.
MARCS: Facilitating Math Learning with Adaptive Reading Supports
Learn how we're supporting math learning through customized and adaptive reading supports and scaffolds.
Project COOL: A Scalable UDL Coaching Model
We're building a new model for instructional coaches, including new systems, resources, and microcredentials to impact student learning.
Corgi 2020: Scaling Models for the Classrooms of Tomorrow
Corgi graphic organizers are great on their own, but we're making them even better with a suite of professional learning resources to support their use in the classroom.
Corgi-2: Enhancing Middle School STEM Learning
We took what’s already great about graphic organizers and made them more flexible and accessible.
Multi-Gen STEM Makerspaces Will Boost School, Career Prospects
We're developing and researching a sustainable model for multigenerational making and learning that can support a STEM career trajectory.
I-SMART: Formative & Summative Science Assessment of Struggling Students
Ensuring science assessments are truly inclusive of all learners, including those with significant cognitive disabilities.
SNUDLE: Student Efficacy Trial
Our UDL science notebook was used in classrooms across the United States, supporting 4th grade students' science learning.
SNUDLE: Scaling an Inclusive Solution to Sensemaking in Science
Helping teachers use science notebooks to support student science knowledge, motivation for science, and sensemaking.