BC UDL Project

The barriers students face every day in school have been reported and researched.  CAST and UDL aim to break down those barriers so ALL students can access curriculum, can show their understanding and are engaged.

One of the greatest barriers stems from a mindset and a mindset is affected by many factors.  One of those factors is the perception of what grade level means.    Learning outcomes are often written according to grade level and suggest content to be delivered for specific grades.  Grading kids according to age, rather than skill set or developmental needs creates a mindset that when students are in Grade 4 they do……Grade 4 work.  When they are in Grade 10…they do Grade 10 work. 

Straight away there is a legitimate reason to teach to the Grade…and typically students who sit in the middle of the grade get their learning needs met sufficiently.

Why do do away with Grade levels (Letter grades too…but that is for another day).  Lets just tell kids they are going to go to school for 13 years, maybe 14 for kids who need a little longer.  And lets teach them according to what they need, rather than what Grade levels dictate.

The are ample strategies available and already in place that can make a multiage setting successful. Platooning, looping, team teaching, pod teaching.    I am not suggested we return to the one room school house of yesterday.  Instead develop our teaching and mindsets based on connecting with kids, avoiding stereotyping or labelling and teach to the individual, not the middle, not the Grade level, the individual child.