Key Assessment Part 1

Gary Z White

EDL 690

Administration of School Curriculum

Dr. Georgia Wilson

May 28th, 2024

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TImberland Alternative High School is a small Alternative School in the district of

Farwell Area Schools. As with many Alternative schools Timberland struggles with

State testing performance graduation and drop out rates. Unfortunately, Timberland

(Mischooldata.org). (MiSchooldata.org)

performance and graduation data is poor compared to other schools. The graduation

rate at Timberland is 38%. The average for similar schools is 52%. The closest similar

school is Clare Pioneer. Clare Pioneer is another alternative high school that is just 8

miles down the road from Timberland.

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Clare Pioneer has a 58% graduation rate, exactly 20% higher than Timberland.

One of the most interesting pieces of data is the percentage of students with a disability.

According to the data 0% of Timberland students have a disability. This of course

seems quite unusual, how could an alternative school have no students with disabilities.

Timberland High School doesn't offer special education services. In order for a

student to attend Timberland they have to sign out of special education. This leaves the

student and parent with a difficult decision. They may feel the high school is not

working as an educational environment, but if they want to try the alternative school,

they lose their services.

This is especially troubling for students that committed a major infraction and

have been placed on Alternative placement. If a special education student commits an

infraction that would normally get them expelled, they go on alternative placement. This

means they meet with a special education teacher twice a week, for two hours, to get

help and retain services. This means the special education student is only allowed to

receive instruction for 4 hours a week for an indefinite period of time. Many parents feel

pressured to sign their students out of special education so they can go to school full

time.

The solution

To meet the needs of Timberlands Diverse learners, The school should transition

to a Universal Design for Learning Curriculum (UDL). UDL focuses on providing

multiple supports to all of the students, so that everyone can be successful. “UDL

places the student at the centre of instruction through a curriculum that is deliberately
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designed to reduce barriers to learning and to reach and accommodate all students

before they experience academic or motivational failure (Nelson & Basham,

Reference Nelson and Basham

2014).” (Cumming & Gilanyi, 2023).

The core concept of UDL is building a curriculum that provides multiple means of

Engagement, Representation and Expression. UDL Supports providing multiple ways

of engagement because not all children are comfortable engaging with the curriculum

the same way. Students benefit by being given choices in how to engage the

curriculum. Teachers can give students some choice in designing the performance task.

Teachers can give students some choice in the tools for practicing skills, they can be

give some choice in tools to find research and whether to work with a partner or a

group. “ Some learners are highly engaged by spontaneity and novelty while others are

disengaged, even frightened, by those aspects, preferring a strict routine. Some

learners might like to work alone, while others prefer to work with their peers. In reality,

there is not one means of engagement that will be optimal for all learners in all contexts;

providing multiple options for engagement is essential” (Cast, 2018).

The concept of providing multiple means of representation makes sense as well.

Some students because of a disability might require visual representation vs. audio. For

students who do not have a disability, they may still have a learning preference. Some

students may prefer lecture and guided notes, while others may benefit from reading the

material or watching a video. Either way, students benefit from material being

represented in multiple ways. “Also learning, and transfer of learning, occurs when

multiple representations are used, because they allow students to make connections
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within, as well as between, concepts. In short, there is not one means of representation

that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for representation is essential”

(Cast, 2018).

The last focus of UDL is providing multiple means of expression. It is no secret

that some students are daunted by a large writing task, or other students are terrified of

speaking in front of class. Of course, some students may struggle with these things

because of a disability. UDL supports giving students choice in how they express their

learning. “It should also be recognized that action and expression require a great deal of

strategy, practice, and organization, and this is another area in which learners can differ.

In reality, there is not one means of action and expression that will be optimal for all

learners; providing options for action and expression is essential” (Cast, 2018).

There is a significant body of research supporting using UDL in the classroom.

Using UDL in the classroom has been shown to be effective in providing the necessary

supports in the classroom to help students learn. “Yet, for both pre-service and

practicing teachers, the Universal Design for Learning framework supported them to

develop numerous adaptations that were beneficial for all students in the classroom.

Perception, expression, and comprehension - all critical learning processes – were

operationalized to a greater extent throughout the revised lesson plans” (Richmond &

Sung, 2018).

We not only see the positive impact of teacher planning using UDL. We see

improvement across the board in student outcomes, as well as overall student

satisfaction with the school. “A recent meta-analysis showed almost exclusively positive
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student outcomes, including increasing student satisfaction and engagement (Al-Azawei

et al., 2016). Second, researchers also suggest that culturally diverse learners benefit

from the implementation of UDL principles (ChitaTegmark, Gravel, Serpa, Domings, &

Rose, 2012)” (Kennette & Wilson, 2019).

Strengths and Challenges

The biggest challenge of UDL will be getting all of the teachers on board. There

can always be a certain level of pushback when you ask teachers to redesign their

lesson plans. The school will have to provide professional developments on UDL and

how to incorporate it into their lesson plans. Extra non-instructional time will have to be

delegated to allow for the planning. Teachers may also require extra classroom

resources so they can provide extra means of engagement and expression.

There will also have to be someone delegated to collect implementation data.

That person will review lesson plans for evidence of UDL as well as conduct classroom

observations to ensure UDL is being implemented properly. That person should also

track student outcome data. The school should compare pre-implementation data with

the coming years data to see the effectiveness of implementing the Universal Design

For Learning.

Timberland has some significant strengths. Most of the school is composed of

younger staff that seem more accepting of change. Many of them will welcome new

strategies to improve their classroom. Another advantage is Timberland does have

some room in their budget to make purchases. If the school needs to purchase new

resources to support the new curriculum, it should not be a problem.

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References

Cumming TM, Gilanyi L. ‘Our Classes Are Like Mainstream School Now’: Implementing

Universal Design for Learning at a Special School. Australasian Journal of Special

and Inclusive Education. 2023;47(2):63-77. doi:10.1017/jsi.2023.7

McGhie-Richmond, D., & Sung, A. N. (2013). Applying Universal Design for Learning to

Instructional Lesson Planning. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 9(1),

43–59.

Kennette, L. N., & Wilson, N. A. (2019). Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Student and

faculty perceptions. Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education, 2(1), 1–26.

https://doi.org/10.36021/jethe.v2i1.17

MI School data. (n.d.). MI School Data; MDOE. Retrieved May 28, 2024, from

https://www.mischooldata.org/
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