Jeanne Miller, Elementary School English Teacher
With 35 years of teaching at ISB, Jeanne Miller shares how Universal Design for Learning empowers students to thrive in diverse, inclusive environments. In this reflection, she highlights how intentional design and flexible pathways allow every child to access learning goals in meaningful, authentic ways.
Designing for All Students: The Essence of Universal Design for Learning
Understanding Universal Design for Learning
Inclusive teaching for learner variability is the new standard in education, moving beyond the one-size-fits-all approach of the past. In schools like ISB, learner variability includes a multicultural and linguistically diverse population, and educators are faced with addressing this variability in classrooms so that all students have access to the same learning goals.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides just the framework to accomplish this. Developed in the 1980s by Dr. David Rose and Dr. Anne Meyer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, along with the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), UDL was originally conceived as a way to use technology to create more flexible learning environments for students with disabilities. By the 1990s, the goal of UDL had expanded to designing curricula that work for all learners from the outset. It is a proactive, curriculum-design framework that provides flexible ways for students to access content, engage with material, and demonstrate their knowledge.
The idea is that barriers exist within the environment, not within students, and if we can remove or reduce barriers, all students will have a chance to access the learning goals. Learning environments can be designed with built-in ways to ensure success for all learners.
The principles of UDL—multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression—have their origins in architecture and are based on neuroscience research. Just as buildings can be universally designed to accommodate a range of users with and without disabilities, learning environments can be designed to accommodate a range of students while maximizing learning for all. Accommodations that are proactively put in place to address specific learner needs and diversity are, in fact, beneficial to all students. Neuroscience research identified three broad networks in the brain: caring and prioritizing, or the WHY of learning (engagement); recognition, or the WHAT of learning (representation); and skills and strategies, or the HOW of learning (action and expression) (Rose and Meyer, 2006). This neuroscience research informed The UDL Guidelines, whose overall goal is student agency.
Bringing UDL to Life: Insights from UDL-Con
This past summer, I attended the second annual UDL-Con International Conference in Washington, D.C., both as an attendee and as a presenter. This global conference—the world’s largest gathering focused on advancing UDL—provided a chance to connect with UDL experts and educators, gain insights on inclusive education strategies, and be part of impactful discussions and workshops. By participating in various workshops (see the many offerings: UDL-Con), I had the chance to explore innovative strategies, tools, and practices to make learning engaging and accessible for diverse learners. A highlight was the closing session, UDL at a Crossroads: A Fireside Chat about the past and the future of inclusive learning, a discussion between Lindsay Jones, the current CEO of CAST, and David Rose, one of the founders of CAST and architect of the UDL framework.
My session, Supporting bilingual elementary students’ nonfiction writing through a UDL lens, offered insight into young bilingual learners and their understanding of and creation of nonfiction texts. As a facilitator, I was not only expected to present a practical application of the UDL guidelines in the classroom, but I was also expected to design my session deliberately, with UDL guidelines in place. This meant offering multiple means of engagement for participants, presenting content with multiple means of representation, and allowing for multiple means of action and expression for participants to convey their key takeaways from the session. It was truly a UDL-pervasive experience!
UDL at ISB and Around the World
UDL has been an educational force in the U.S. for more than 40 years, and is gaining momentum around the world. References to UDL can be found in IB programs around the world, notably in relation to inclusive practices. The UDL framework aligns well with ISB values: a commitment to fostering an inclusive community in which everyone’s unique contributions are valued and respected, a focus on excellence, challenge, a growth mindset, and responsibility.
Removing barriers to learning for some students allows all students to benefit. In an ideal learning environment designed within the UDL framework, students develop agency in their own learning as teachers provide flexible pathways for students to meet specific learning goals. By proactively anticipating and planning for student variability, we hope to create a learning environment where all students can succeed.
About the Author: Jeanne Miller has taught at the International School of Boston for 35 years and has been an educator for more than four decades. She currently teaches English in Grades 1 and 2 and has worked across both the Maternelle and Elementary levels. Jeanne studied bilingualism and biliteracy under Dr. Catherine Snow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and later continued her research at Boston University, where she served as a Teaching Fellow and supervised pre-service teachers. She also supervises Master’s Degree candidates at ISB and is a certified UDL Practitioner through CAST/HGSE, supporting colleagues as a UDL mentor. Jeanne holds a B.A. in French and Education from Dartmouth College, an M.Ed. from HGSE, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Developmental Studies from Boston University.