Faced with a uniquely diverse student body and a staff drawn largely from industry, UBCTS has overhauled how it supports teaching and learning by adopting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) across its career and technical education (CTE) programs. The school partnered with CAST—the nonprofit that pioneered UDL—to train educators, build a common instructional language, and align classroom practice with a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS).
About 40% of UBCTS’s 850 students have an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and half are economically disadvantaged. That profile pushed school leaders to look beyond traditional professional development.
“I just wanted to make sure all of our CTE educators and staff had the materials, resources, and knowledge to support all learners,” said Michael Herrera, UBCTS executive director. “Many of our instructors are technical experts who have to come into career tech ed and then learn how to become teachers.”
What UBCTS Did
Herrera’s team engaged Amanda Bastoni, CAST’s director of Career Technical & Adult Education, to structure a systemwide approach. Together, they created a specialized credential for UBCTS educators focused on understanding and applying UDL, paired with a professional badge from NOCTI, the national provider of CTE industry credentials.
“We first asked how we could build self-efficacy in the teachers,” said Bastoni. “Many CTE teachers are already using the strategies in universal design for learning but they haven’t been told or identified that these are best practices… Part of it is just saying, ‘Look, this is what you’re already doing really well. Keep it up.’”
So far, more than 45 UBCTS staff members have been trained. Embedding the credential in routine PD has made the work sustainable, Herrera said: it’s “provided a common language, and built trust,” and proved “the most effective way to change the paradigm and help our teachers support all learners.”
How It Works in Classrooms
UDL now anchors UBCTS’s MTSS architecture, explained Daniel Cullen, assistant director of student services.
“Tier One core instruction is going to be founded upon our UDL principles,” Cullen said. “And in that system, our Tier Two interventions’ common language is really going to be influenced and informed by UDL… It creates a common language amongst the staff, so you see a little bit of fidelity start to take root across programs, which increases that teacher sense of efficacy.”
That efficacy, he added, grows as teachers practice data-informed decisions about barriers—cognitive, emotional, language—that can derail student progress. When teachers believe they can remove those barriers, more students succeed.
Early Results: Engagement and Access
Leaders report higher engagement among nontraditional students and special populations, allowing instructors to spend more time on program content.
“It has helped empower the students to own their own learning,” Herrera said.
Bastoni framed the goal succinctly:
“The goal of UDL is to create expert learners, or learners who know what they need to learn… We’re trying to create learners who can go out in the world. You don’t have to have students who can walk away doing everything perfectly.”
Cullen pointed to English-language learners (ELLs) as a standout example. With UDL’s options for task complexity, representation, and autonomy, many UBCTS ELL students graduate with workplace skills, an industry certification, and a credential in their native language—a “triple threat in the workplace,” he said.
Herrera added a concrete metric tied to work-based learning opportunities:
“Over the last two years, 277 students had the opportunity to make $1.8 million just during the school day… Once those barriers are removed and we focus on skills from a strength-based approach, it really helps students find their way.”
Why It Matters
- CTE reality check: Many CTE instructors come from industry and must learn pedagogy on the job. A UDL-anchored credential gives them a shared playbook and confidence.
- Equity at scale: With high rates of IEPs and economic disadvantage, designing for variability—not retrofitting accommodations—reduces friction for everyone.
- System alignment: UDL makes Tier 1 instruction clearer and Tier 2 interventions more coherent, strengthening MTSS fidelity across programs.
- Workforce impact: Options for how students access content and demonstrate learning translate into marketable skills and recognized credentials.
What is UDL (in brief)?
Universal Design for Learning is an instructional framework that plans for learner variability from the outset. It emphasizes multiple means of engagement (why we learn), representation (what we learn), and action and expression (how we show learning), so that barriers are addressed by design rather than through after-the-fact accommodations.
5 Practical Tips for Implementing UDL in CTE
Drawing on Bastoni’s guidance:
- Create a baseline: Give every teacher a common foundation in best practices—with UDL as the shared language—so programs can scale consistently.
- Secure administrative buy-in: Leaders should set a clear vision and back it with time, funding, and collaboration structures, aligning UDL to school goals.
- Make PD teacher-centered: Design training around teacher feedback and model UDL in delivery (multiple modalities; trainers who know CTE).
- Solve real problems: Map UDL moves to specific barriers teachers and students face; practical wins build momentum.
- Build authenticity and trust: Listen first. As Bastoni noted, imposed visions rarely stick; value and authenticity drive adoption.
The Bottom Line
UBCTS’s partnership with CAST shows how a credentialed, systemwide UDL rollout can help CTE programs meet diverse learner needs without diluting technical rigor. With a shared instructional language, aligned MTSS, and teacher self-efficacy, early signs point to stronger engagement and better pathways to industry credentials—especially for ELLs and other special populations.
“When you connect UDL to the power of career-connected learning, that’s when the real magic happens,” Cullen said.
Quick Answers (User Intent)
- What happened? UBCTS partnered with CAST to embed UDL across CTE programs, created a UDL educator credential with a NOCTI badge, and trained 45+ staff.
- Why it matters: A UDL-first approach helps a high-need, high-variability student body access rigorous CTE learning, boosting engagement and credential attainment.
- What’s next: Continued scaling of the UDL credential, deeper MTSS alignment, and extending practices that helped ELLs and special populations into more programs.
- How can I do this? Start with a shared UDL baseline, align leadership supports, design teacher-centered PD, target real barriers, and invest in trust-building.
