Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
The White House (Obama Administration)
The Tech Museum of Innovation
Center for Universal Design / Ronald L. Mace Award
LD Access Foundation
Co‑Founder & Chief Education Officer, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)
Lecturer (Education & Neuroscience; UDL), Harvard Graduate School of Education
David H. Rose is a developmental neuropsychologist and educator best known as a co‑founder of CAST and a principal architect of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Over more than three decades he served as CAST’s Executive Director and later Chief Education Officer, and taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he helped shape the Mind, Brain, and Education program. His work centers on reducing systemic and curricular barriers by designing flexible goals, methods, materials, and assessments that honor learner variability and promote equity, often leveraging digital media and accessibility technologies. He is currently Chief Education Officer, Emeritus, at CAST and continues to write, speak, and consult on UDL and educational neuroscience. citeturn3search0turn9search5turn9search4
A design framework for improving and optimizing teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. It calls for multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression, and for proactively eliminating barriers in goals, methods, materials, and assessments.
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability • Journal
This reflective article describes applying UDL in a graduate course at Harvard (T‑560), illustrating how course goals, materials, methods, and assessments were designed to honor learner variability. The authors discuss the neuroscience roots of UDL and provide concrete classroom examples for postsecondary contexts.
Teaching Exceptional Children • Journal
Explores how access, participation, and progress in the general curriculum can be achieved through UDL. The article reframes barriers as properties of curriculum design rather than of students and outlines flexible goals, materials, methods, and assessments supported by digital technologies.
• Book
An updated, practitioner‑focused presentation of the UDL framework by its originators, explaining the scientific foundations of UDL and detailing how to design inclusive goals, methods, materials, and assessments. This edition includes new chapters on the UDL Guidelines 3.0, what has changed and why, and expanded implementation strategies across K–12, higher education, and workforce contexts.
• Book
A comprehensive, accessible introduction to Universal Design for Learning that synthesizes research on learner variability and demonstrates how to build inclusive learning designs. Includes case stories, guidance on accessibility as a cornerstone of UDL, and an appendix with the UDL Guidelines 3.0.
International Encyclopedia of Education (4th ed.) • Chapter
A state‑of‑the‑field chapter tracing UDL’s evolution and its increasing attention to equity. The authors present the UDL Design Cycle, highlight applications across formats (e.g., blended/online), and discuss ‘UDL Rising to Equity’ as a community‑driven process to update the UDL Guidelines.
Handbook of Accessible Instruction and Testing Practices • Chapter
Argues that UDL‑aligned assessment should primarily diagnose barriers in the learning context rather than deficits in learners, integrating emotion as central to variability and embedding flexible, recurring assessment that yields actionable feedback for students and educators.
• Book
The first major statement on UDL since 2002, blending research from the learning sciences with practical exemplars to help educators design for learner variability. The book articulates expert learning, the UDL Guidelines as a design framework, and multiple case examples and media‑rich resources for implementation.
• Book
An edited collection translating the UDL framework into classroom practice. Chapters address learner differences, digital media capacities, and effective teaching and assessment, with case stories and practical tools for K–12 educators and administrators.
• Book
Addresses how to create full access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities by leveraging digital technologies and the UDL framework. The volume also examines policy and implementation issues amid IDEA and NCLB contexts.
• Book
Introduces UDL to help educators set appropriate goals for every learner, choose flexible methods and materials, and ensure fair, accurate assessment. Drawing on brain research and the affordances of digital media, the authors provide templates, a school case study, and links to online resources to support implementation.
• Report
A seminal white paper arguing that innovations driven by the needs of learners ‘at the margins’—especially students with disabilities—can catalyze educational reform for all. It introduces UDL as a framework for designing flexible curricula and assessments that leverage digital media to reduce barriers.