Date of Award
4-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Educational Leadership
First Advisor
Victor Mercurio, Ed.D.
Committee Members
John Butler; Tanya Glantz
Keywords
Co-teaching; Engagement; Inclusion; Perceptions; Universal Design for Learning; Education; Pedagogy; Middle school education
Abstract
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that encourages educators to proactively identify and address any potential barriers to learning before a lesson or concept is taught. UDL’s inclusive framework offers strategies for enhancing student engagement, representation, and action and expression, yet research on educators’ perspectives on UDL and its implementation in co-taught classrooms is limited. The literature identifies the lack of educator knowledge on neuroscience (Lopes et al., 2022), inadequate professional development (Chu et al., 2020), and systemic challenges such as common planning time and administrative support (Zhang et al., 2024) as barriers to implementing UDL, but studies on the attitudes of co-teaching partners utilizing UDL is limited. This study investigated co-teaching educators’ perceptions of the Universal Design for Learning, and how it is implemented into two urban school districts’ elementary and middle schools’ co-taught classrooms. Through a convergent- parallel mixed-methods design, quantitative survey data on co-teacher knowledge, perception, and implementation of UDL was collected, and dyadic interviews were conducted to gain a better understanding of co-teachers’ perspectives and attitudes. The data was analyzed and determined convergence in overarching themes and trends. Focusing on educators’ perspectives, this study aimed to contribute new insights into how educators understand and describe the implementation of UDL within co-teaching contexts. These findings may inform future efforts to strengthen collaborative teaching practices of inclusive classrooms.
Recommended Citation
DiPaola, Biancha, "Understanding Educators' Perspectives on Universal Design for Learning in Co-Taught Elementary and Middle School Classrooms" (2026). JWU Dissertations & Theses. 38.
https://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/jwu_etd/38
