Implementing Universal Design in Leadership- Data-Driven Approaches for Effective Needs Assessment and Analysis
Why Qualitative and Quantitative Data are Necessary to Create a Comprehensive Needs Assessment to Begin to Implement UD Principles in a School or School District
According to Rozeboom 2021, “Universal Design (UD) is not about buildings, it is about building community, building better pedagogy, building opportunities for agency” (p. 331). A strong foundation forms the basis for a strong structure, meaning a comprehensive needs assessment should be conducted before the implementation begins. This assessment should involve collaboration between school personnel and stakeholders. The quantitative data necessary to create a comprehensive needs assessment to implement universal design in a school or school district include test scores, surveys, and attendance. These data will be used to assess and measure the school or district’s current performance, activities, and outcomes. On the other hand, the qualitative data necessary to create a comprehensive needs assessment to implement universal design principles in a school or school district include focus groups, interviews, and direct and indirect observations. These data will enhance understanding of the perceptions and experiences of the school or school district stakeholders.
How Strengths and Needs Will Be Determined
Before the implementation process begins, the strengths and needs should be determined, and this will be done using the qualitative and quantitative data and information that will be collected. Collecting data plays a significant role in determining the required needs and strengths. The strengths will be determined by evaluating the different things and items that benefit the schools and those of little or no benefit. Those that are more beneficial to the school or school district will be used as the strengths, and those that are of little or no benefit to the school will be the weaknesses or the needs that should be addressed. Some strengths include teamwork, collaboration among leaders and stakeholders, and strong leadership. When teachers consider asking several questions that help address and understand the determined needs, they get to develop more strategies to help improve on the needs or weaknesses.
Goal Setting
Goal setting will occur after data has been collected and evaluated and the strengths and weaknesses determined. After the analysis and evaluation of the collected data have been conducted, discussions will be used to determine the most suitable options to set the desired goals. The goals will be based on the outcome, knowledge, and skills expectations. Goals will be set with several objectives that should be achieved. The identified needs will be used to set the goals, which will occur by having a plan and achieving the goals within the set deadlines. In universal design learning, goal setting ensures clear learning opportunities that accommodate and support all students’ diverse needs. Setting goals involves three key elements: addressing learning variability, separating the means from the outcomes, and offering options for Universal Design of Learning (UDL) in materials, procedures, and assessments.
Meaningful Research Needed Before Implementing UD Principles
An extensive amount of data collecting and research on what has and has not worked in the past is necessary before putting UD ideas into practice. Drawing broad conclusions from such a broad concept is just a lot of work for a small and unclear window of opportunity. The first step would be to examine important figures both inside and outside the system (Novak & Rodriguez, 2016). The next step is to demonstrate how much data is relevant to the UDL design after overcoming the bad implications of unjust and accountable measures and judgments (Novak & Rodriguez, 2016). The next step would involve tending to the foundation. With teachers and administrators making decisions based on data gathered from multiple sources, the foundation is where the stakeholders come together. Finding peer-reviewed journal papers about best practices is one of the tasks included in the data-gathering process (Novak & Rodriguez, 2016). Online resources and peer-reviewed journal publications provide a wealth of knowledge regarding UD. Much like with other things, the more thorough and focused the search, the more results one will be able to get. If people are prepared to put in the time and effort to find it, a wealth of information may be found online. Since children are the best hope for the future, it should be reasonable to assume that people will always be insatiably hungry for the elusive hidden gem that will elevate this concept to the next level. It is critical to determine the topics that the district, in particular, needs to focus on after conducting research. One will lay their basis from there. The hard fact of the issue is that every school system and district has unique challenges, setbacks, and areas where it excels above the rest. It is simply a reality of the world and the era people find themselves in. This problem has been made clear by the social gap, which has also highlighted all of the shortcomings that are unfairly and insufficiently valued in some areas and schools but not others.
Universal Design in the Classroom
In the United States, legislators developed different policies that focus on helping students with disabilities as a way of helping these children not to be left behind in the educational system and curriculum. These policies ensure that students with disabilities are excellent and succeed at the same level as others. Also, these policies and rules ensure that students with disabilities get equal chances and opportunities in educational activities and classrooms, just like other students who are not disabled. In 1975, The Education of All Handicapped Children Act was passed, ensuring that all children, including those with disabilities, had the right to receive education. This meant that children with disabilities had an equal chance to learn in classrooms with other children and were not supposed to be discriminated against. For example, in classrooms, children with disabilities were supposed to be treated equally, and their learning environment was supposed to accommodate their special needs. The passing of the Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, was a significant educational aspiration for the disabled community, especially students with disabilities.
Additionally, legislators added the universal design in the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act (Public Law 110-315). The law ensured that students in higher education and universities should be taught education courses and trained to understand the principles of universal design (Novak & Rodriguez, 2016). In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA, was passed in the United States. The law ensures that universal design learning, UDL, is incorporated and used in classroom assessments and instructions, which helps meet the high academic standards that policymakers set (Scott et al., 2022).
Every classroom is expected to have a different look at a universal design based on the major focus of the classroom, including assistive technology, behavior management, literacy, mathematics, or even gifted education. Different rubrics and guidelines have been developed to guide and help administrators, teachers, educators, and counselors whenever they use universal design learning, UDL (Posey, 2021). The major focus of universal design is to ensure that all students, including those with disabilities, have access to different learning materials and resources that they require to understand the content they learn in their unique ways. A universal design lesson can be developed more easily when teachers and educators have a better understanding of their students, which means they can use different data about their students and utilize the most effective learning strategies suitable for all the students. When managing students with behavioral issues, universal design can be both successful and hard in terms of behavior control. This is because these students have a lack of emotional maturity, poor coping skills, and poor work habits, which makes them have a poor relationship and hard to develop a positive and healthy relationship with teachers and their peers (Johnson-Harris & Mundschenk, 2014). Normally, students with behavioral disorders tend to be very disruptive in classrooms, and/or they can choose to be very silent and fully disengaged during lessons. During universal design learning, academic and emotional support should be provided to students and teachers in an inclusive classroom. This ensures students have a positive and effective learning environment, especially for students with behavioral disabilities or disorders.
The core principles of universal design learning include multiple means of representation, action and expression, and representation (Posey, 2021). Multiple means of representation play a significant role when using universal design in a classroom with students who have behavioral issues. Teachers should consider using different means of presenting content in class to accommodate all students’ diverse needs, including those with disabilities. This guarantees that students who struggle with behavior will not become irritated since, in the event that they miss any knowledge in one mode, they will be able to access it in another. In the multiple means of action and expression, teachers can ensure that students interact with the content being taught in different ways, which, in turn, helps them interact better with the learning materials and resources. For example, when a student with behavioral issues starts acting out during a test that requires them to provide written responses, they can be allowed to complete the test through oral presentations. In multiple means of engagement, student interests and efforts can be maintained by exposing them to different opportunities that allow them to make critical decisions on the best activities to engage in while also receiving feedback from their teachers.
References
Johnson-Harris, K. M., & Mundschenk, N. A. (2014). Working effectively with students with BD in a general education classroom: The case for universal design for learning. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 87(4), 168-174.
Novak, K., & Rodriguez, K. (2016). Universally designed leadership: Applying UDL to systems and schools. CAST Professional Publishing.
Posey, A. (2021). Universal design for learning (UDL): A teacher’s guide. Understood By All.
Rozeboom, S. A. (2021). From universal design for learning to universal design for communion with the living God. Journal of Disability & Religion, 25(3), 329-346.
Scott, L., Bruno, L., Gokita, T., & Thoma, C. A. (2022). Teacher candidates’ abilities to develop universal design for learning and universal design for transition lesson plans. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 26(4), 333-347.
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Question 
Universal Design (UD) is intended to meet the needs of all learners. For this assignment, you will read Chapter 2: Using Evidence-Based Decision-Making to Begin the Work and Chapter 7: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in the Classroom. While reading the chapters, consider the following:
Implementing Universal Design in Leadership- Data-Driven Approaches for Effective Needs Assessment and Analysis
Universal Design in Leadership
Underneath this heading, address each of the 4 questions, thoroughly utilizing information from the assigned reading.
- What qualitative and quantitative data are necessary to create a comprehensive needs assessment to begin to implement UD principles in a school or school district?
- How will strengths and needs be determined?
- How will goal setting occur?
- What meaningful research needs to be completed prior to implementing UD principles?
Universal Design in the Classroom
Underneath this heading, incorporate at least 1 other course-related topic (assistive technology, behavior management, literacy, mathematics, gifted education) to discuss in terms of UDL in the classroom. Discuss the critical components of a UDL classroom. Specifically address instruction, the learning environment, cultural proficiency, and expectations.
The 4–5-page paper MUST be written in the current APA format, contain a title page and reference page (not included in the page count), demonstrate course-related knowledge, and contain a minimum of 5 citations. Block quotations may not be used in your paper.