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Petaluma educators pilot Universal Design for Learning; board hears pilot results and recommends expansion
Summary
A district pilot of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) engaged 32 educators and a deep-dive cohort. Participants reported higher student engagement and recommended foundational district training, coaching support and expansion of the model across grade levels.
Petaluma City Schools presented results from a multi-site pilot of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a research-based framework that emphasizes anticipating barriers in lesson design and giving students options for demonstrating learning.
Carrie Caudill, a teacher on special assignment, described the district's multi-year work to align professional development with equity goals and to craft a careful, phased UDL rollout. The district ran a two-day cohort training attended by 32 educators across K-12 and a 'deep dive' group of seven teachers who received additional coaching and conducted classroom learning walks and empathy interviews with students.
Teachers who completed the deep-dive training reported a uniform increase in student engagement, motivation and classroom joy. Practical classroom changes included offering more choices for assignments, flexible grouping, and use of empathy interviews to uncover barriers such as family challenges or language needs that affect student learning.
Participants recommended that the district provide foundational UDL training to all educators, continue opportunities for deeper cohorts, and fund coaching/facilitation to aid site-level implementation. Several presenters said UDL should be framed as an inclusive design process that reduces the need for later remediation.
Board discussion focused on how to scale training and how to support site administrators who will need additional coaching time and structures to sustain UDL practices. Staff said they will continue planning professional development and explore ways to link UDL to multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and other district initiatives.
Why it matters: UDL is framed by district leaders as a tier-1 instructional strategy that can reduce disparate outcomes by designing lessons that remove barriers for all students rather than retrofitting accommodations after instruction.
Speakers - Carrie Caudill, Teacher on Special Assignment and district UDL lead. - Monica Roni, Casa Grande Spanish teacher, UDL participant. - Denise Reyes, fourth-grade teacher, UDL participant. - Patty Lunabas, Special Education teacher, UDL participant.
