I agree that the concept of Universal Design is solid. As the authors of the first article note, who would argue against a plan to consider the needs of a wide range of students when designing instruction and curriculum? However I am concerned about implementation. Teachers who have students with disabilities should begin lesson planning with those students in mind, rather than just trying to modify existing materials, as discussed in the Spooner article. But I don’t know if it’s possible to design a curriculum that would really meet the needs of all students. Integrating flexibility into curricular design can help, but I think some students will always need special attention to achieve their full potential. I could see Universal Design being twisted into an excuse to devote less resources to those particular students.
The idea of assuring that standardized assessments are accessible to a wider range of students strikes me as a worthy goal, but how do you do it? Create a variety of assessments that can be used to pass courses? This brings to mind the portfolios that schools like School Without Walls use instead of Regents exams. I wholeheartedly support efforts like that.
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