A Response to Misinformation about a CAST Event

Date:
Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Recently CAST was accused by a blogger of hosting “a conference that advocated for abolishing the United States” and using taxpayer dollars to do so. The writer based his claim on a few cherry-picked quotes from one of more than 50 sessions over three days at our annual symposium; he later acknowledged that his characterization was merely his opinion of the event. The event was sponsored by ticket sales, not taxpayer dollars. At no time did the blogger reach out to CAST for comment or confirmation of these details.

In fact, the Symposium, titled UDL Rising: Designing for Equity, addressed the many ways that inequity presents in learning environments. Participants explored ways to reduce barriers to learning in alternative schools, assessment, technology, arts education, early childhood education, math instruction and more.

CAST’s nonpartisan work on behalf of marginalized students—and especially students with disabilities—has been celebrated by people of all political persuasions. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework that CAST developed in the 1990s has, with bipartisan support, become recognized in federal education law as an effective way to improve teaching and learning for people with disabilities, English learners, and other populations.

On behalf of learners everywhere, we will continue to research, design, teach, and explore until learning has no limits.