May UDL Newsletter

Each month this newsletter will 1) highlight critical UDL practices, 2) make connections to the UDL guidelines and checkpoints, 3) connect you with great tools and resources, 4) share some ways schools are putting this practice into action and 5) offer additional approaches to utilize this highlighted practice.

This month's tools and resources will help you assess students in ways that you may not have considered when providing a variety of options for learners to show what they know!

1. So you want to design a rubric, check out these resources first!

• Holistic, Single Point, and Analytic Rubrics, Oh My! There are many forms of rubrics out there, but we know you want to know Katie's favorites! Check out Katie Novak's Blog on rubrics then explore these rubric development tools online: Orange Slice Rubric Generator for Chrome, RubiStar

• Learn how to co-create rubrics with your students by visiting educircles.org
  
• Use this resource, Design a Grading Rubric, when you want to provide in formative feedback for your learners.
  

2. Whether you're a UDL novice or an expert UDL practitioner, be sure to check out this UDL Assessment Flowchart to help guide you through your UDL assessment design.

3. Formative assessment: Try one of these ideas for formative assessment: fist to five, thumbs up/down, exit tickets, Bamboozle, Kahoot

4. Summative assessment: Allow students to shine as they design and create with Google Drawings, Mindmup, or tell an animated story through GIF or video with Creator Studio and Slides.

5. Be sure to check out CAST's UDL Tips for Assessment

Matt Bergman shares how he used Orange Slice in this video. Watch how he embeds his rubrics into Google Classroom, and creates copies for each student to grade themselves.

The beauty of a well designed rubric, is that it can allow students to achieve mastery by showing what they know in multiple ways. This means they can write a well developed essay, create an engaging Slides presentation, or illustrate a well thought-out infographic that shows all they've learned!

See the pictures below of a student example from a high school class. These "one-pagers" are a beautiful way to show what these students have learned from her coursework and research.

The practice profile linked in each newsletter provides a description of what UDL critical components look like in practice. But as a leader, or educational professional, how do you gauge the level of implementation?

One way is to use a form or walk-through aligned to the UDL Practice Profile, like the one linked here: Performance Assessment.

For folks who don't have access to Google Forms, try accessing this version created by Typeform: Quarter 1 UDL Performance Assessment This version does not have an upload option because it was made with the free version but an upload option is available with the basic plan.

And how will your staff complete this form?

I suggest two ways:

1. This can be completed by staff as a self-assessment. Sometimes schools find this way useful for staff who have been trained on the practices in the profile but haven't looked at it in a while.

OR As a preview of what future walk-throughs will be looking for. Both provide staff time to self-reflect on their UDL practice.

2. School leaders can also use it to monitor levels of implementation. This is important because the data collected from tools like this helps leaders to collect implementation data in order to use that data to inform decisions and create meaningful next steps such as focused training or coaching.

In both uses, schools can allow both teachers and leaders the option to show what they know in multiple ways by briefly listing how their practice aligns with the profile or uploading examples as evidence. This requires a quick adjustment to the form, as shown in the pictures below.

***Remember to ease staff anxiety by reminding them that these types of implementation checks are to inform implementation levels ONLY and will NOT be evaluative.

However, as leaders, we can support teachers with clarity of expectations around evaluation too! The OTES 2.0 and UDL Crosswalk is a great way to make connections to Ohio's evaluation expectations and to UDL. This document includes a planning column for each area so educators can begin to develop ways to move toward the accomplished level through UDL checkpoints.

Meeting the Needs of All with UDL, Virtual Learning Institute. These virtual learning sessions are all held on Mondays from 7-8 pm Eastern time beginning September 25, 2023 through November 27, 2023. Registration is now open.

Looking for some summer learning options to refine your UDL Practice? Check out these self-directed, on-demand learning options:

• Novak Education on Demand, Self-directed Learning Options
• CAST's Free Webinar Learning Series
• UDL Assessment Video Modules (CAST)
• Earn your UDL credentials

Cherie Smith began working at State Support Team Region 6 in July 2015. She has a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and the Inclusive Classroom. Most of her experience has been in special education as a supervisor and an Intervention Specialist at the secondary level. She has taught students wtih disabiliteis in both Florida and Ohio.

Cherie is currently a co-chair of Universal Design for Learning Implementation and Research Network's Implementation Special Interest Group and is a member of the Ohio UDL Collaborative.

As an SST6 Consultant, she supports districts in the Ohio Implementation Process as a Regional Data Lead. She leads Universal Design for Learning and is part of the Special Education team supporting districts with IDEA Internal Monitoring, Postsecondary Transition, PBIS, and College and Career Readiness.

Email: csmith@sst6.org
Website: https://www.sst6.org/UniversalDesignforLearning.aspx
Location: 1045 Dearbaugh Avenue, Wapakoneta, OH, USA
Phone: 419-739-0170
Facebook: facebook.com/SST6ohio
Twitter: @SST6