CAST & NH DOE Publish UDL Innovation Network Annual Report
Date:
Thursday, September 10, 2020
CAST and the New Hampshire Department of Education has published the Year 3 Report for the New Hampshire UDL Innovation Network. The groundbreaking partnership with CAST trains local educators in the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which helps them recognize student variability in the classroom, and design education solutions so that all students can learn.
In its third year, the NH UDL Innovation Network had 517 participants from 66 New Hampshire schools. A majority of participants agreed that the UDL techniques they learned helped make students more motivated and goal-directed. UDL was also a powerful tool in helping teachers adjust to a shift to remote instruction in the spring, given its focus on flexibility, customization to each student, and continual assessment of student progress.
“This growing network means that our educators are learning techniques to individualize their instruction and meet each student where they are on the learning spectrum,” writes Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut. “This approach to instruction was essential to helping students succeed prior to the pandemic. In the middle of the pandemic, it could not be more critical.”
“I am so proud of the outstanding job that the entire NH UDL Innovation Network has done in such difficult circumstances. Immediately, teachers reached out to their Implementation Specialists to discuss the barriers to and brainstorm ideas for supporting students,” adds Jennifer Levine, Director of Professional Learning at CAST, the non-profit contracted by the Department to facilitate the NH UDL Innovation Network.
The report concludes, “Our goal is to build the capacity of all educators across the state of New Hampshire to understand UDL theory and apply it to practice.”