A bi-monthly e-newsletter, Volume 5, Number 1 (July-Sept 2006)
This edition's topic: Teaching and Learning
Contents:
UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING: A Promising Approach to Educational Inclusion and Improvement (Feature Article by Curtis Richards, Senior, Fellow, Center for Workforce Development, IEL)
Educational reform strategies and models often run afoul of the real conditions of children’s lives, as well as tried and true instructional strategies. However, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the concept that says education should be designed up front for access by all students, offers hope for real reform that will meet the needs of all students.
The UDL framework proposes that educators strive for three kinds of flexibility: to present information in multiple formats and media; to provide multiple pathways for students’ action and expression; and, to provide multiple ways to engage students’ interest and motivation" (Rose & Meyer, 2002). Congress is increasingly lining up behind UDL. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997 requires that all students, regardless of ability, be given the opportunity to become involved with and progress in the general curriculum. Recently enacted legislation addresses UDL in five key areas: standards, student assessment, technology, curricula, and instructional materials (IDEA of 2004).
UDL challenges traditional teaching approaches. Rather than delivering instruction that suits the comfort of the teacher, without paying much attention to accommodating individual-learning needs, educators are asked to consider and use alternative methods of instruction and learning approaches, including courses, textbooks, schedules, delivery styles, technology, and other aspects of education.
According to the Center for Accessing Special Technologies (CAST), the leading UDL research and technical-assistance center, UDL’s four fundamental principles challenge long-held assumptions about teaching and learning:
- Students with disabilities are not one separate category of students. Rather, they are a range of learners who have different learning styles.
- Teachers should adjust for the learning style differences of all students, not just those with disabilities.
- Curricular materials should not be dependent on a single textbook; rather, they should be varied and diverse and include digital and on-line resources.
- Curricula should be flexible; students should not be remediated from an inflexible curriculum.
This emerging educational theory extends the basic universal design concept of built-in flexibility to educational curriculum and teaching methods. The idea is that UDL can help teachers meet standards and improve student learning, while simultaneously addressing the unique needs of every student. What is more, advance planning for different learning needs can help both make instruction available for more students at lower costs, and reduce the need for adjustments afterwards.
As our education systems struggle to meet the diverse needs of all students, UDL is a promising approach to educational inclusion and improvement. Using UDL as a blueprint, CAST researches and develops ways to support all learners according to their individual strengths and needs. To learn more about UDL and CAST, visit the Web site at www.cast.org. {To learn more about Curtis’ work and The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, and to access its highly recommended treasure-trove of resources and tools, visit the NCWD/Youth’s site at www.ncwd-youth.info.}
NEWS & RESOURCES
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Leadership
- "Leading the Way to Increased Student Learning" includes leading with the head and the heart. That’s an insight from the article contributed by co-authors Betty Hale and Kwesi Rollins of IEL to the National Association of Secondary School Principals’ (NASSP) June ‘06 issue of Principal Leadership. The issue is dedicated to "Elements of Success in Breakthrough High Schools," a project of NASSP (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). The article underscores the common recipe for success that is shared by principals facing a multitude of challenges in high-minority, high-poverty high schools across the country. NASSP is making it possible for you to download a copy of the IEL staff’s article only at www.principals.org/hale. Contact Bob Farrace, Director of Publications at NASSP, if you’d like to order a copy of the full issue (be advised: they were "flying off the shelf") at: farraceb@principals.org. (Also, subscribers of Education Digest will find a copy of this same article in the September 2006 issue.) To learn more about Breakthrough High Schools, see NASSP's Web site: http://www.principals.org/s_nassp/sec.asp? TRACKID=&SID=1&VID=1&CID=66&DID=66&RTID=0&CIDQS=& Taxonomy=False&specialSearch=False.
- The Framework: A Tool to Develop Collective Leadership for Community Change is a test-driven resource for developing community-based leaders. This community leadership development resource was created by IEL and the Center for Ethical Leadership to guide their work with the Kellogg Leadership for Community Change (KLCC) initiative in six diverse communities. KLCC was designed to develop community leaders while they addressed local issues—in this case teaching and learning in communities with histories of oppression, racial division, and economic distress. The Framework (see the centerfold, pp.10-11) starts with a theory of change, includes the stages of community change and leadership development, and offers strategies and practices to help guide other communities toward a sustainable plan for change and improvement. It is available for download from the IEL Web site at www.iel.org/pubs/klccframework.pdf. To learn more about the KLCC and other Kellogg initiatives, visit their site at http://www.wkkf.org.
- Journal of Research on Leadership Education Launched: The University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), its member institutions, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas have launched an online Journal of Research on Leadership Education, a "refereed" journal written for and by a diverse group representing various disciplines, programs, and countries---all engaged in a focused effort to increase the empirical knowledge about leadership education. UCEA's goal is to encourage an open and provocative exchange of ideas among professors, students, and practitioners in education and other social sciences in an interdisciplinary environment, and to promote sound scholarship. See the free Journal at http://www.ucea.org/JRLE/index.cgi. While there, you may want to take a look at the first issue of the International Journal of Urban Educational Leadership (IJUEL), which provides an academic forum for discussing issues and concerns of educational leadership relative to urban environments.
- It is no secret that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has its passionate supporters and detractors: So, who do you talk to about changes that should be made during the reauthorization process which is slated to begin in 2007? That’s the weighty job assumed by former Governors Roy E. Barnes (GA) and Tommy G. Thompson (WI, and former Secretary of Health and Human Services), who were tapped to co-lead a top-level, independent, bipartisan analysis of NCLB. Housed at the Aspen Institute and funded by various foundations, over the next year the Commission on NCLB is charged with analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of NCLB, working to maintain its successes while recommending changes with the statute, its regulations, or its implementation as appropriate. In addition to holding public hearings as a part of what has been dubbed the "See America Tour," the Commissioners welcome comments through the site at http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/c.huLWJeMRKpH/b.1403589/ k.C43B/Your_NCLB_Comments/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp? c=huLWJeMRKpH&b=1403589& en=nvJTIbPXKbJOJaPVLdLOKeP0KqK0K7NUKlKVJ7PXKvKdG.
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Policy/Systems
- And The Young Shall Lead in Many Ways. A companion resource of the aforementioned NCWD/Youth is the National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth (NCLD-Youth), a Web-based, youth-led information and training resource center for youth and emerging leaders with developmental disabilities. Staffed and housed at IEL, the project is intended to be the "go-to" place for information on working with youth with disabilities, both for organizations with this expertise as well as those with little-to-no-experience in this area. Visit their site at http://www.ncld-youth.info.
- Mentoring is more than a notion in motion. Mentoring is recognized as one of the most important strategies for assisting youth in making a positive transition into adulthood. Yet, little information exists about mentoring youth with disabilities or about career-focused mentoring of older youth. Paving the Way to Work: A Guide to Career-Focused Mentoring for Youth with Disabilities was developed by the NCWD/Youth initiative to specifically address these gaps. The Guide includes chapters ranging from a mentoring program and a disabilities context overviews, to evaluation and marketing of mentoring programs to a variety of audiences. Visit NCWD’s Web site at http://www.ncwd-youth.info/resources_&_Publications/mentoring.html to download a PDF or Word copy.
- AERA erects an important "Stop" on the "making sense highway" for policymakers. Their quarterly series, Research Points, shines a spotlight on a current education reform issue (e.g., the very topical matter of early childhood education). In four pages, written in crisp, understandable language, you learn what’s at stake and what actions policymakers can take to address the situation. To download a copy of the most recent or past Research Points, visit http://www.aera.net/publications/?id=314.
- Forget The Red And Blue States Map. Regardless of the differences revealed during national elections, the lowest common denominator in a community is each household. While the "Education Needs Index" (ENI) research being conducted does not get down to that level, it digs down to a county-by-county study of educational, economic and population pressures that affect education policy in all 50 states. This project is in its first phase and assesses conditions and trends for all U.S. counties, ranking their level of need (from most to least critical) and allowing peer comparisons across a variety of indicators. Developed with support from the Lumina Foundation, project director Dr. Houston Davis says, "The real substance of the ENI project [will be] in the rural/urban phases… getting down to the real challenges and revealing that you just cannot have a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy for every county in a state." Visit www.educationalneedsindex.com for more information about ENI, and check back for the rural/urban reports which will be available on the Web site as they are completed in the fall of 2006.
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Community Connections
- What Do Chicago, Tukwila, Long Beach, and Cincinnati Have In Common? I
t is the role that leadership has played in mobilizing the whole community to develop a better system of connections and supports that benefit children and, ultimately, their schools and communities. Each of these communities was spotlighted in the Coalition for Community School's, Growing Community Schools: The Role of Cross-Boundary Leadership. From large to small cities, there are many examples of the arrangements and of lessons learned. Visit the CCS' Web site to download a copy of the report and see why more and more communities are adopting community schools as their primary vision for and school reform model, at http://communityschools.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=60. (The CCS is staffed by and housed at IEL.)
- Whatever It Takes
, a recent American Youth Policy Forum publication, documents what committed educators, policymakers, and community leaders across the country are doing to reconnect out-of-school youth to the social and economic mainstream. It provides background on the serious high school dropout problem and describes in-depth what twelve communities are doing to reconnect dropouts to education and employment training. It also includes descriptions of major national program models serving out-of-school youth. Download a copy at http://www.aypf.org/publications/WhateverItTakes.htm.
SITE-TO-CITE
- A Public Education Primer: Basic (and Sometimes Surprising) Facts About the U.S. Education System, the Center for Education Policy’s contribution to better understanding, provides a comprehensive picture of the nation’s public schools with data about students, governance, funding, achievement, teachers, and non-instructional services: http://www.cep-dc.org/pubs/publiceducationprimer/PublicEducationPrimer.pdf.
- Kids Count Every Day. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s major national resource, 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book, is available. It is a national and state-by-state study that ranks the 50 states on 10 key measures, profiles the well-being of America’s children, and tries to enrich discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all kids. You can access the 2006 Data Book (and develop your own indicator comparisons) at www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/databook.jsp.
"MUSE" FROM IEL
(Commentary by Betty Hale, IEL President)
We received many positive reactions to the IELC commentary on "The Whole Leader" published in the late fall of 2005. We are tracking other mentions about preparing leaders who can lead with both the "head and the heart." The March 2006 Kappan had a special section titled "Educating Leaders for Tomorrow’s Schools." The article, "Developing Educational Leaders of Character: Lessons from West Point," by Scott A. Snook, reinforced the theme of whole leaders. In parsing the Army’s tag line, "Be, Know, Do," Snook confirmed that more time had been spent on "know and do" and not enough time on "be." The Leadership Learning Community (http://www.leadershiplearning.org) focused its April 2006 meeting on values not consistently honored or rewarded in leadership practice such as interdependence, compassion, humility and heart. The Coalition for Community Schools’ recently released paper, All Together Now: Sharing Responsibility for the Whole Child, commissioned and published by the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), underscored the need to recast the narrow focus of schools in order to support the development of the whole child and suggested the need for ‘whole leaders." You can read the Coalition's paper at: http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/sharingresponsibility.pdf.
We will continue to follow and report on the growing interest in whole leaders.
Submission deadline for the next issue: November 15, 2006
ABOUT IEL and IELeadership Connections
For over 40 years, the Institute for Educational Leadership (a non-profit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC) has worked to achieve better results for children. At the heart of IEL's effectiveness is a unique ability to bring people together to identify and resolve issues across policy, program, and sector boundaries. We provide services in three program areas: Developing and Supporting Leaders, Strengthening School-Family-Community Connections, and Connecting and Improving Policies and Systems that Serve Children and Youth. Through IELeadership Connections, IEL’s free bi-monthly newsletter focused on leadership for education, IEL is building and nurturing an on-line network. Please feel free to pass it on to interested parties. We will do our best to provide active links and information but cannot be responsible for expired links. IELC is edited by Denise Slaughter, Director of Communications, and to submit a news item, suggest a topic for future publication, or provide feedback, send an e-mail to feedback@iel.org with "IELC" in the subject line. Submissions should include a link at which readers may find additional information on the highlighted program or issue.
To initiate or discontinue a subscription to IELeadership Connections, please send an e-mail to subscribe@iel.org with "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
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