Help Us With Our Research
Our research projects are typically funded by grants from federal organizations and private foundations. When developing proposals for these grants, we are always looking for schools, districts, and organizations to partner with us. Our very best ideas come from close collaboration with you, the learners, teachers, and instructors. You are the authentic audience for much of our work. When you get involved, we’re able to reach and positively impact more learners and more educators. We need you to help us keep it real!
What does it mean to partner with CAST?
We partner with schools, districts, and organizations to apply for a variety of research grants, and these collaborations can take many forms. The most common is for you to be involved in the co-design of a technology-based tool, which would involve CAST researchers and designers coming into a classroom or learning environment at various intervals during the year to brainstorm, critique, and test-out prototypes we are developing. Another way to be involved is at the end of a project as a test site for an already developed UDL tool where we are gathering input on its usefulness. Both usually involve pre- and post- interviews, observations, surveys, and short assessments. In all of these partnership scenarios, we work to accommodate your schedule and do what works best for you and your learners.
We have projects right now that need your help.
When you design with us, you make our work better. Email research@cast.org for general inquiries about our research studies and partnerships.
CISL: Creating Digital Tools to Empower Students
We're looking for middle school classrooms to help us test out our prototype reading environment called Clusive.
Corgi 2020: Scaling Models for the Classrooms of Tomorrow
We’re looking for middle school science teachers to try out Corgi 2 with middle school students.
Benefits to Students
Let’s just say that our school is made up of the happiest guinea pigs on the planet.
Principal from a CAST research site
- Students’ voices are heard and their ideas are fed into actual prototypes and products
- Students learn about the design & development cycle through all phases from ideation to creation to testing, perhaps motivating some students to consider a career in research or product development
- Students learn about and reflect on their own strengths and needs as learners
Benefits to Teachers and Schools
From a teacher perspective, every CAST member I met really enjoyed being around my students and were truly student-centered. It is a true pleasure to work with CAST.
Teacher from a CAST research site
- Use of innovative learning tools and interventions reflecting UDL principles
- Cutting-edge training in UDL straight from CAST, where the UDL framework originated
- Ongoing support and training around the tool or intervention, and in the evidence-based practices on which it is based
- Stipends for teachers and schools
Have an idea to share?
It was great! It was a seamless process. Before we started, I was concerned that the task of participating would become overwhelming and might interfere with my instruction, but the CAST team was very respectful and not overbearing.
Teacher from a CAST research site
If you are interested in partnering with CAST on the development of a future grant proposal, please fill out this brief form.
If you are interested in exploring opportunities to learn about UDL, visit our upcoming professional learning events or contact us at cast@cast.org.