Connecting Universal Design for Learning With Culturally Responsive Teaching

Urban students are increasingly diverse in race, culture, language, and background knowledge. Educators must consider how students’ differences affect learning and align pedagogies that address this diversity. Universal design for learning (UDL) has provided educators with a framework for differentiation to address learner differences. Using UDL principles without explicitly considering how cultural differences and perspectives affect learning may increase the disparity in student achievement for students of color. Likewise, the same applies to the effect of socioeconomic status or language development on students’ preparation for learning in a “typical” school environment. Culturally responsive pedagogies prompt educators to design instruction from the perspective of students’ diversity as strengths rather than deficits. Frequently overlooked aspects of culturally responsive pedagogy are compared with the facets of the UDL framework to provide teachers with additional considerations when planning for effective instruction.

[1]  Gloria J. Ladson-Billings.  Is Meeting the Diverse Needs of all Students Possible? , 2011 .

[2]  Frank Diederich,et al.  Teaching Every Student In The Digital Age Universal Design For Learning , 2016 .

[3]  Carol Ann Tomlinson,et al.  How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms , 1995 .

[4]  C. Fiedler,et al.  Culturally Responsive Practices in Schools , 2008 .

[5]  Thomas M. Smith,et al.  The Condition of education , 1975 .

[6]  Dave L. Edyburn,et al.  Would You Recognize Universal Design for Learning if You Saw it? Ten Propositions for New Directions for the Second Decade of UDL , 2010 .

[7]  J. Giltrow.  Stories of English , 2006 .

[8]  Pamela J. Mims,et al.  Teaching Elementary Students with Multiple Disabilities to Participate in Shared Stories , 2008 .

[9]  Kavita Rao,et al.  Using Universal Design for Learning to Design Standards-Based Lessons , 2016 .

[10]  M. Dosch,et al.  "The Course Fit Us": Differentiated Instruction in the College Classroom. , 2011 .

[11]  G. Gay.  Culturally responsive teaching in special education for ethnically diverse students: Setting the stage , 2002 .

[12]  M. Pollock,et al.  Caricature and Hyperbole in Preservice Teacher Professional Development for Diversity , 2016 .

[13]  Eileen R. C. Parsons.  From Caring as a Relation to Culturally Relevant Caring: A White Teacher's Bridge to Black Students , 2005 .

[14]  Z. Hammond,et al.  Culturally responsive teaching and the brain : promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students , 2015 .

[15]  Oscar Navarro,et al.  Critical Race Theory 20 Years Later , 2016 .

[16]  Language Accessibility in the Classroom: How UDL Can Promote Success for Linguistically Diverse Learners , 2015 .

[17]  Christie L. Gilson,et al.  Using a Participatory Action Research Approach to Create a Universally Designed Inclusive High School Science Course: A Case Study , 2006 .

[18]  Dc Washington,et al.  Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation (Effective Classroom Practices Report). U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. , 2004 .

[19]  Gloria J. Ladson-Billings,et al.  But that's just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy , 1995 .

[20]  Jason Margolis,et al.  Do Teachers Need Structure or Freedom to Effectively Teach Urban Students? A Review of the Educational Debate , 2016 .

[21]  Jessica T. DeCuir-Gunby,et al.  Educators’ Perspectives on Culturally Relevant Programs for Academic Success: The American Excellence Association , 2010 .

[22]  M. Pearson.  Modeling Universal Design for Learning Techniques to Support Multicultural Education for Pre-Service Secondary Educators. , 2015 .

[23]  J. B. Gurney Smith.  Reshaping the Curriculum , 1947 .

[24]  Richard J. Stiggins,et al.  An Introduction to Student-Involved Assessment for Learning , 2011 .

[25]  Susan V. Piazza,et al.  Converging Recommendations for Culturally Responsive Literacy Practices: Students with Learning Disabilities, English Language Learners, and Socioculturally Diverse Learners , 2015 .

[26]  C. Steele.  Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do , 2011 .

[27]  Judy S. Richardson,et al.  Reading to Learn in the Content Areas , 1994 .

[28]  Brittany Aronson,et al.  From Teacher Education to Practicing Teacher: What Does Culturally Relevant Praxis Look Like? , 2020 .

[29]  E. Horn,et al.  Access to the General Education Curriculum for Preschoolers with Disabilities: Children's School Success , 2008 .

[30]  J. Banks.  The Historical Reconstruction of Knowledge About Race: Implications for Transformative Teaching , 1995 .

[31]  Delinda van Garderen,et al.  Planning Differentiated, Multicultural Instruction for Secondary Inclusive Classrooms , 2006 .

[32]  Tamara Lucas,et al.  Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers , 2002 .

[33]  Margery B. Ginsberg.  Cultural Diversity, Motivation, and Differentiation , 2005 .

[34]  L. Vygotsky.  Interaction between learning and development , 1978 .

[35]  Matthew T. Marino.  Understanding How Adolescents with Reading Difficulties Utilize Technology-Based Tools , 2009 .

[36]  Paulo Freire,et al.  Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 2019, Toward a Just World Order.

[37]  B. Tatum.  Can We Talk About Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation , 1997 .

[38]  A. Brown,et al.  Culturally Responsive Pedagogy , 2017 .