As a parent the changes brought on by NCLB can seem like a maze of information that is difficult to comprehend. The critical question is, "How does it affect my child?" As a parent, you are to be commended for your efforts in trying to understand the challenges of education and the challenges your child faces in achieving success in school. This site provides you with many resources and can provide you with a clearer and better understanding of NCLB, research, strategies and other resources available for parents and schools.
Understanding Universal Design Resource Type: Date: 2/1/2010 Author: National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
"According to the Access Center, universal design is ""an approach to designing environments and products so they can be used by the widest range of users without adaptation." You'll find a wide variety of products at the Access Center on this vital subject, including professional development modules, briefs, and presentations. Here is a list of links to resources that will help you gain familiarity with the concepts behind UDL and consider strategies for getting started with implementation in your school of classroom.
The authors discuss increasing academic rigor for English Language Learners (ELLs) by addressing higher-level thinking skills at every level of language acquisition through the use of a matrix which enables teachers to provide more challenging instruction to Ells, which then leads to increased learning. There are four phases of change that are addressed in the article which focus on how school leaders can ensure that all learners can benefit from a new instructional initiative.
From 1998 to 2008, voters in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts passed anti-bilingual education ballot initiatives that required English-only instruction for the vast majority of the states' English language learners. The contentious political discourse leading up to the votes largely ignored the research on best practices for educating English language learners, as well as the practical and pedagogical issues facing educators. The author of this article examines the research to counter several "myths" underlying the English-only movement: that all schools should be required to adopt the same approach in serving their differing populations of English language learners; that bilingual instruction is the reason for English language learners' low levels of English proficiency; and that students can learn English quickly and then easily catch up with native English speakers in literacy and content learning.
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