The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Data Toolkit is your essential resource for enhancing inclusive and effective educational practices. Developed collaboratively with educators and experts from across California, this toolkit empowers local education agencies (LEAs) to collect, analyze, and use data to monitor UDL implementation and its impact on students, educators, and systems.
Drawing from the recommendations in the UDL memo, the toolkit focuses on leveraging data at three levels—large, medium, and fine grain—and triangulating insights to provide a comprehensive view of UDL effectiveness. With guidance on data collection, tools for measuring progress, and strategies for driving continuous improvement, this toolkit supports a data-driven approach to creating equitable learning environments.
Explore the UDL Data Toolkit to access:
Practical tools like surveys, rubrics, and observation guides
Strategies for data analysis and visualization
Insights to align UDL implementation with broader goals such as equity and student success
Start your journey toward impactful UDL implementation today by using this robust resource, co-designed with our dedicated partners, including Riverside County Office of Education, Placer County SELPA, and WestEd.
We see some common issues repeatedly with assessment systems. These include the use of too many assessments, duplicative assessments, assessment approaches not matched to instructional or monitoring needs, or assessments that do not adequately address the depth of the standards. Using the right combination of assessments to supply a variety of information to support different types of educational decision-making is at the heart of what is known as “balanced assessment systems.” The goal is to free up instructional time by removing assessments that are not useful for supporting better decision-making in schools or classrooms!
What is one solution?
Conducting an “assessment system review” involves examining all the assessments that a student completes in a year. Considering the breadth and type of assessments that one student experiences is an important step toward understanding whether these are the right assessments being used for the right uses or if your school or district needs to make some adjustments to the assessments for that grade level. In some instances, lessons learned for one grade level can be applied to others within the grade-span.
Learning Path
The Assessment System Review online learning path empowers teams of school/district leaders and teachers with the knowledge, skills, and tools to conduct an assessment system review. Designed in partnership with the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, this learning path contains seven modules of multimedia content, with tools to facilitate the collection of assessment information and evaluation of whether the assessment system is meeting the information needs of classroom teachers and school and district leaders. Users are able to decide on the pacing, as well as the level of learning and support that they need to complete the review process.
Module 0: About the Assessment System Review Learning Pathway Module 1: Prepare to Launch Module 2: Clarify the Instructional Vision Module 3: Reflect on Assessment System Needs Module 4: Conduct the Inventory Module 5: Evaluate the Inventory of Assessments & Write Recommendations Module 6: Create Action Plan
“We wanted to evaluate our assessments in our district. We had feedback from our teachers about the assessments that we were using at the district level. They didn’t feel that the data that they were receiving was useful for their classrooms and so we wanted to look into that. They also felt that there was a lot of time that was used for the assessments that were taken away from classroom instruction…We wanted a process…We didn’t want to go by, just feel or opinion …[this] gave us a process to use to go through.” Brooke Smothers-Strizic, Bakersfield City School District
“We knew there was something underlying that was consuming the time of our teachers in the classroom, but we didn’t quite know how or to what degree. And so I think that we had the right intentions that we wanted to give them the time to actually do the instruction right, and ensure the data they were collecting was meaningful to guide the instruction. And so I think that you can’t do that if all you’re doing is spending your time assessing, assessing, and assessing, without getting to the actual planning and instruction. So I think this process…just makes it more systematic: asking the right questions, the leading questions, to really force you to have those conversations that you’re documenting in a way that then you have the evidence [such as] the number of minutes that people were actually spending [on each assessment]. And then you can start evaluating the information and think: Is there a better way? I think the one thing that I myself personally have gained from this process is seeing the impact. As you’re removing assessments you know it’s going to make an impact instructionally for students and for teachers.” Rocio Muñoz, Bakersfield City School District
“Who is looking at this information? Who’s looking at the data? Is it for the teacher? Is it for the [school] administrator? Is it for the district? …I feel like, that’s a really super important question that sometimes we don’t ask ourselves enough. …When you’re doing the work you’re like, ‘This is important information, this [assessment] is needed.’ But then, when you’re actually in the classroom, you may be like, ‘Why are we doing this? Because we don’t even use this information.’ So I think it’s super important to always ask ourselves: What is the purpose of the assessment? Who will use this information? Why are we giving this assessment? And what are we going to do with this information?…That then helps us determine how many assessments we need and when we need them?”Beatriz Chavez, Coachella Valley Unified School District
“Think about your key players and build your team of who you want to complete the work. [Make sure] you know the time commitment, so that you don’t get halfway through and let it fizzle out because you really should see it through the end because that’s where the meat and potatoes of it is. That ending piece was kind of where we were like, ‘Wow! We really learned a lot.’ And so you want to get to that end result. So really, again, having an action plan for how you’re going to make sure you get through the modules. But just knowing, too, that you really do get a lot of really good insight and good information, you can then make a lot of really good decisions to improve practices. And if that’s what you really want to do, you will get that out of the process.” Tara Hinchen, Coachella Valley Unified School District
INSIGHTS FROM DISTRICTS’ ASSESSMENT SYSTEM REVIEWS
To learn more about districts’ experiences in conducting an assessment system review, read the blogs below published by the Center for Assessment.
We are excited to introduce our LCAP Monitoring & Evaluation Tracking Tool, a powerful resource designed in partnership with Riverside County Office of Education to help school and district leaders effectively track the implementation and impact of their Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) actions. This tool is crafted to support the continuous improvement efforts within educational organizations, ensuring that every action taken leads to meaningful and measurable outcomes.
Explore the full potential of the LCAP Monitoring & Evaluation Tracking Tool by accessing the resources below. Watch the comprehensive tutorial video to see the tool in action, download the tool to get started, and review an example to understand its practical application.
The webpage from Library Science Degrees Online discusses the importance of public libraries in providing free STEM resources, emphasizing the role of libraries in supporting children and teens’ educational development, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It covers the definition of STEM, the variety of STEM programs available in libraries for different age groups, and how these programs contribute to critical and physical development. For more detailed information, you can visit the website directly here.
The session, led by Los Angeles County Office of Education is dedicated to addressing the increasing integration of AI in education. It highlights the necessity for ethical and responsible AI usage guidelines, detailing the support provided to LA County’s districts through symposiums, collaborations, and professional development. The task force, comprising diverse members, aims to develop these crucial guidelines. The session also covers a needs assessment survey to understand stakeholder perspectives on AI in education, offering insights on replication strategies for similar initiatives.
This session includes a 45-minute presentation and a 15-minute open Q&A. You can also sign up for a follow-up Special Interest Group (SIG) session on 3/29/2024 to take a deeper, more contextualized look at AI in your school or district by emailing our Program Specialist, Sehrish Anjum, at [email protected]
PRESENTERS
Jose R. Gonzalez – Chief Technology Officer
Elizabeth Graswich – Executive Director of Public Affairs & Communications
Christopher Hoang – Assistant Director, Technology Innovation and Outreach
In Field Guide #12: Rebounding from Unfinished Teaching and Learning (the “Learning Loss”), we aim to guide school district decision-making and resource allocations in such a manner that all students and especially African American students and students from other communities of color will indeed rebound rapidly from the learning loss that resulted from the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.
DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
California Association of African-American Superintendents & Administrators (CAAASA)
This learning path’s goal is to empower California educators with the needed knowledge and skills to apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) holistically to their practices as professionals. Designed in partnership with teachers, for teachers, this path contains 6 modules of multimedia content, opportunities for reflection and community, and links to resources to deepen your learning and practice.
In Field Guide #11: The Principal as the Equity Leader, we will help you understand how to remove contemporary obstacles to educational equity to assure that every child has an opportunity to maximize his/her potential.
DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
California Association of African-American Superintendents & Administrators (CAAASA)
CCEE’s microlearning resources are short 5-7 minutes videos developed to support immediately applicable strategies, ideas, and resources for substitute teachers and other instructional staff who may not have access to more robust professional learning opportunities.
These are not meant to introduce complex ideas or lessons, but to focus on a single resource or activity to support student learning in a variety of settings.
This session highlights the high impact school governance has on culturally responsive efforts of districts that are participating in the Community Engagement Initiative, and how their participation has led to them building trusting relationships, effective partnership structures that require district teams (comprised of various educational partners) to develop a sustainable community engagement system and in turn allowing them to have difficult conversations and more meaningful engagement in the LCAP process and in supporting the success of their students.
PRESENTERS
Steven Mitchell, Assistant Director, Community Engagement and System of Support, CCEE
Mars Serna, Family and Community Engagement Program Manager, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools
Jan Gustafson-Corea, CEO, California Association of Bilingual Educators
Dr. Karling Aguilera-Fort, Superintendent, Oxnard School District
Tamara Otero, School Board Member, Cajon Valley Union School District
