Week 11

Q1: As described in “Tale of 4 Districts”, select buildings within Baltimore County Public Schools, over time, grew to become a place where UDL strategies could flourish. 

What made this district successful was the collaborative environment that was cultivated by their leadership teams, as well as the involvement of a variety of stakeholders. Key players in this shift included the Director for Professional Development, the new to the district Superintendent, principals, PLCs (professional learning communities), and UDL coaches. With the leadership promoting and developing PLC leaders, this created opportunities for the educators in Baltimore County Public Schools to develop buy in, as they were a major driving force behind the shift to incorporating UDL into their way of teaching. One critical component of their success was the fact that UDL implementation was being supported and discussed at every level, so that it was truly embedded in their educational culture. Another aspect that led to their success was that while they used evidence based practices and their work was done within their PLC’s, the process was slow. The district was not rushing the process, but rather allowing the work to be done organically, allowing for the educators involved to make change at a pace they were comfortable with, meaning that UDL would actually be a part of the day to day process. 

Q2:

In “Universally Designed Leadership”, the authors mention that UDL can be used as a literal framework to guide UDL processes into a district, program, agency, or classroom. Novak and Rodriguez state that “the work (the “what”), knowing how to do the work (the “how”) creating a culture for continual improvement, sustained engagement, and self- reflection (the “why”)” can be used as a framework of thinking about guiding UDL processes. 

My district’s vision and mission is to “promote a culture of excellence that engages and empowers students and staff to embrace the challenges of our global society. We will build on our traditions, respect our diversity and partner for a strong community.” The UDL framework compliments this vision and mission as within the UDL framework, there is a focus on engagement. The UDL principle of engagement supports the district goal as it works to support all learners.