Books published by Cast, Inc.

Andratesha Fritzgerald presents Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in a new light: As an effective framework to teach Black and Brown students. Drawing vivid portraits of her classroom instruction in urban over the past two decades, Fritzgerald shows teachers how to open new roads of communication, engagement, and skill-building for their students. The result? Helping students become expert, lifelong learners who feel honored and loved.

Due to popular demand, the authors of the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology: A Comprehensive Guide to Assistive Technology Services (CAST, 2015) now offer this practical companion to the original book, which will help students, families, school professionals, and communities work together to meet the educational needs of every student.The original Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology, or QIAT, were developed by a team of experienced leaders in the field of assistive technology (AT) in education over nearly two decades. Drawing on contributions and feedback from thousands of educators and families, the Indicators offer extensive support for the development and implementation of AT services, including research-based information, resources, and scenarios. They collectively support AT decision-making and actions at all points of AT service delivery and ensures that they align with specific areas of special education processes; describe the core components of quality AT services in eight areas; and require a team approach that emphasizes student and family voice.The indicators, intent statements, and supporting materials for each area are used as guideposts for developing and sustaining effective, efficient, and ethical AT services across the country and internationally. This new volume, The QIAT Companion, offers educators and families an action-based, "just-in-time" resource written by the QIAT authors themselves.

Professional learning initiatives in schools come and go, and the constant cycling through programs can resemble fad diets--hype and hope followed by crash and burnout.In this timely book, professional learning providers Kasia M. Derbiszewska and T. Nicole Tucker-Smith share concrete strategies that will help you design professional development sessions that are compelling, convincing, and sustainable using the framework of Universal Design for Learning. Learn to recognize and reduce common barriers to effective PD. In each chapter, the authors clearly address the Purpose, Preparation, Implementation, and Benefits to Learning for each aspect of professional learning, as well as UDL Tidbits that help ensure the health and longevity of the initiative.If you are ready to take the leap toward creating healthy and sustainable professional learning, jump into the chapter that is most relevant to your needs. Get ready to consider the whole adult learner and apply practical strategies for cultivating and maintaining healthy, vibrant professional development that has a track record of success.

"Formative assessment--the process of interpretating data on student performance to adapt instruction to individual needs--is perhaps the single most powerful tool available to teachers to help every student succeed to their full potential."With that bold statement, Michael W. Connell sets out to unpack formative assessment--what it is, how it works, and why it is so essential for learner growth. He shows how to incorporate it into different teaching methods and settings, such as flipped classrooms, programmed instruction, and more. The goal: to provide the benefits of individualized instruction even in group settings.

In The Unbound Classoom, educator Chelsea Miro invites readers to "imagine a classroom that empowers every student to pursue their interests, to travel the paths of their curiosity, to allow learning to be a natural process." But what does this look like, sound like, and feel like? How can teachers design their classrooms and lessons to bring this vision to reality? Drawing on the inclusive principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), The Unbound Classroom strives to create a real-world experience for students by removing disciplinary boundaries and allowing for thematic learning to take the lead. Rather than focus on a singular driving question, units cover a wide variety of relevant questions and ideas centered on the real-world study of a theme. With this strategy, students find the mode that is most engaging for them, and then allow their curiosity to guide their focus. UDL helps teachers think about the varying ways students learn and address that variability before each and every lesson. Integrating the UDL guidelines with cross-disciplinary, thematic units, results in a classroom that is ready to support the growth, curiosity, and insight of every student. By focusing on a central theme rather than a singular driving question, Miro's Unbound Classroom also becomes highly flexible. Teachers can develop a few lessons that integrate the disciplines and use the foundational approach or they can commit to an all-encompassing unit. The focus is on thinking outside the structures of the disciplines - math, science, English, history - and instead thinking about how to best learn all the facets of a particular topic, how to create rich, deep learning opportunities. In this stimulating and thought-provoking book, Miro walks through each step of creating a robust thematic unit but also includes shorter lessons, activities and strategies that teachers can take to their classrooms immediately.

You know that Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can improve teaching and learning in higher education. You want to share UDL's innovative best practices on campus and throughout your institution. Yet getting buy-in for trying new approaches can be tough given the many different stakeholder interests represented by faculty, departments, and administrative offices. It can feel like you are navigating through dark woods.That's where this book can help. Jodie Black and Eric J. Moore have been at the vanguard of UDL implementation at their respective institutions. In UDL Navigators in Higher Education: A Field Guide, they share strategies and resources for introducing UDL to postsecondary systems. Topics include: Program-level design Course-level design Instructional experience Technology selection and use Accessibility services Professional learning Since no two postsecondary institutions are alike, Black and Moore group their advice in themes that can be transferred and tailored to address the particular needs, culture, and values of your setting. UDL Navigators in Higher Education: A Field Guide-don't set off without it!

The iPad is a powerful educational device: versatile, mobile, engaging, and accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities.Dr. Luis Pérez draws on years of classroom teaching and his own experience with a visual impairment to offer savvy tips and strategies for making the most of the iPad. Perez shows how students with and without disabilities can become empowered creators and publishers of their own work. Teachers and parents of students in general education and special education settings will learn about the huge number of up-to-date iPad applications that they can use today.Learn about multimedia development, digital photography, blogs and websites, writing and reading supports, accommodations and supports for speech, vision, communications, executive functioning and more. Tips for using Google tools and highlights of favorite apps are sprinkled throughout this short, highly readable book.

How do we help language learners-those whose primary language is not the language of instruction-become resourceful, motivated, and strategic? In UDL for Language Learners, authors Caroline Torres and Kavita Rao address this critical problem of teaching practice.Whether they are newcomers or natural born citizens, language learners are often a highly diverse group with widely varying needs, in addition to their language acquisition needs. Differences in academic and cultural backgrounds can present special challenges for teachers who are trying to help all of their students meet common goals and standards.This book shows teachers how to plan for that variability and anticipate special challenges. The result: lessons that empower such students to achieve at high levels. Detailed vignettes illustrate how teachers can apply UDL in the classroom. The authors share strategies and design processes relevant to specific grades and content or skill areas.

In this one-of-a-kind book, artist and teacher Liz Byron demonstrates how to design lessons and instruction in the visual arts using the inclusive principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Art for All: Planning for Variability in the Visual Arts Classroom offers teachers classroom-ready advice on how to transform their practice in sustainable ways with UDL. Readers learn to set meaningful goals, measure progress, customize instruction, and engage all learners across grades. They also discover ways to help all students appreciate and embrace themselves as artists. "Liz Byron's reflections on the use of UDL along with her keen observation of how students learn provide useful insights into the process of designing rich, engaging arts-learning experiences for diverse learners!" -DON GLASS, The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC"Liz is at her best when she shares, often with humor, her own misgivings and classroom trials and errors. This highly readable, useful book is filled with lots of takeaways and good advice for teachers about how to implement UDL practices." - LINDA F. NATHAN, Executive Director of the Center for Artistry and Scholarship, and faculty member, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Leading the Way to Excellence in AT Services is designed to help administrators identify critical issues and specific actions that will influence the provision of excellent assistive technology (AT) devices and services. AT experts Gayl Bowser and Penny R. Reed examine four aspects of school administration-leadership, program management, supervision, and advocacy and program improvement-and their relationship to AT. The result is an authoritative and useful guide that explains the legal, ethical, and practical reasons for providing high-quality AT to every student who needs it. In this highly practical book, readers learn to: identify ways to support educational programs that encourage and sustain students' and educators' use of AT; create and share a vision of their agency's approach to providing AT devices and services; manage material resources, allocation of personnel, time, and physical resources in a way that helps to provide an efficient, ethical, and cost-effective AT system; support educators in learning and applying pedagogical strategies for integrating the use of AT into the educational programs of students with disabilities; and regularly assess AT services and identify strategies to improve the current model. The authors showcase a number of resources, self-assessment tools, and specific strategies to help administrators and schools deliver assistive technology services that are academically effective and also cost effective.