Reworking school lessons for accessibility

Interesting article from Education Week this week talks about initiative to legally require new coursework designed for schools have accessibility designed into them to support text to speech and other tools needed by the impaired.

‘Universal Design’ Concept Pushed for Education

The same design principles that brought Braille panels to public elevators and curb cuts to city sidewalks should be imported to the classroom and used to transform lessons and textbooks, says a coalition of education groups.

Called “universal design for learning,” the philosophy advocates creating lessons and classroom materials that are flexible enough to accommodate different learning styles.

The coalition has drafted language it wants to have included in federal education law. A requirement for states to “develop a comprehensive plan to address the implementation of universal design for learning” is in the draft bill for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act released in August by the House Education and Labor Committee.

Universal design for learning, or UDL, is also supported in a reauthorization measure sponsored by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn. and co-sponsored by Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Mary L. Landrieu, D-La. Much of the Senate bill includes language taken verbatim from the coalition’s materials.

According to the tenets of UDL, lessons should be designed with accessibility in mind, instead of retrofitting existing materials in an attempt to accommodate students with learning differences. While the early days of UDL focused on helping students with disabilities, supporters say it has benefits for any student, including those who are learning English, gifted students, or students who simply learn better through methods other than a teacher’s lecture.

Sometimes, accommodating different learning styles can be achieved through the use of technology. For instance, computer devices can “read” a book aloud to a student who is blind.

Point of Agreement

However, low-tech methods can be valid applications of UDL as well. An example of a simple application is allowing a student to create a poster that visually depicts the main ideas in a classroom reading assignment, rather than asking the student to write a book report, if he or she has difficulty with written language. Developing alternate methods for students to show they’ve mastered a concept is an integral part of UDL.

Support for the concept has linked several education and disability-rights organizations, even those that have been in disagreement over other aspects of the No Child Left Behind law. Some groups call for softening or eliminating some of the sanctions imposed on schools when students in any of various subgroups, including students with disabilities, do not make adequate yearly progress under the law. Other groups fear that removing such sanctions would mean students with disabilities might not get access to rigorous instruction.

But 28 organizations have put aside those differences and come together in support of UDL, including the National Education Association, the National School Boards Association, the Council for Exceptional Children, and a host of groups that work to help children with specific disabilities.

“I don’t see how it can fail to be compelling,” said RickiSabia, the associate director of the national-policy center of the National Down Syndrome Society, in New York City, and one of the main drivers behind including UDL language in the reauthorized federal school law. “There’s only one thing in NCLB that we’re all in agreement on.”

The school boards’ association supports UDL because it can help all students, said Reginald M. Felton, the director of federal relations for the Alexandria, Va.-based group.

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