New from CAST: Antiracism & UDL
Date:
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning: Building Expressways to Success by Andratesha Fritzgerald
Foreword by Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice
CAST is thrilled to announce the forthcoming publication of this timely new title by veteran teacher and administrator in urban schools, Andratesha Fritzgerald. Drawing vivid portraits of classroom instruction and mapping practice to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, Fritzgerald shows how teachers open new roads of communication, engagement, and skill-building for students who feel honored and loved.
Fritzgerald currently serves as Director of Teaching, Learning, and Innovation for the East Cleveland (OH) City School Districts and has been a teacher and leader in urban schools for nearly 20 years. You can find her on Twitter at @FritzTesha.
Fritzgerald offers very practical suggestions for making inclusion, antiracism, and the acceptance of differences the first and most important step in lesson planning. … This book gives me hope that in education we can begin to eliminate the violence of academic and social prejudice that kills the spirit of our babies and belittles the needs and experiences of people of color.
Samaria Rice
Other early praise for the book includes:
This book is a marvelous step-by-step resource to help educators develop an authentic antiracist UDL-based practice. It will help educators name and eliminate barriers while addressing and confronting the instructional racism that plagues our systems and schools.
Mirko J. Chardin, Co-author of Equity by Design: The Power and Promise of UDL, Education Consultant and founding Head of School of the Putnam Avenue Upper School in Cambridge, MA
[Andratesha] Fritzgerald advances thoughtful and universally designed instructional strategies to address the ever-present color line in America that divides us. Beginning in slavery to the Civil War, through Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter movements, race continues to create inequity in opportunity and access for Black and Brown children. Melanined students deserve a high-quality educational experience with honor and social emotional support. Excellence is a requirement to bridge the gap for members of our marginalized communities. Teachers in all school settings can benefit from the classroom-tested coaching Tesha provides, based on UDL principles, to intentionally design antiracist learning environments for students.
Dr. Henry Petiegrew II, CEO/Superintendent for East Cleveland City School District, East Cleveland, OH
With great depth and breadth in both the research and experience behind everything [Andratesha Fritzgerald] says, she shows how the intertwining of anti-racism and UDL helps her both honor and challenge her students. At times tearful, joyful, angry, bracing and embracing, this book honors its readers, and will inspire the brilliant teacher in all of us.
David H. Rose, Co-Founder of CAST and recipient of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Andratesha Fritzgerald challenges us to first reimagine, and then activate, a system of racially equitable education based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). As a founder of CAST and a UDL evangelist for nearly 40 years, I find her summons not only compelling, but an essential component of truly inclusive education.
Skip Stahl, Senior Policy Analyst and Co-Founder, CAST
Andratesha eloquently illustrates how UDL can and should be leveraged to ensure that Black and Brown learners are seen, heard, valued and honored no matter the circumstances or environment. The strategies and connections Andratesha weaves throughout the book are practical, engaging, and necessary if we are to dismantle oppressive systems in education. This book is a must read for all educators...
Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles, PhD., ATP, author of One Size Does Not Fit All: Equity, Access, PD, and UDL and Accessibility