Located a short distance north of Boston, CAST is a nonprofit education research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning. 

The CAST team includes about 60 talented employees, including world-class educators, learning scientists, instructional designers, literacy experts, policy analysts, UX and graphic designers, software engineers, and a first-rate administrative and executive staff. 

Since its founding in 1984, CAST has seeded and grown the field of Universal Design for Learning through creative research and development, strategic partnerships, teacher preparation and support, and international outreach.

CAST's Credential and Certification Initiative

CAST is leading a field-building initiative to stimulate, support, and sustain best practices in Universal Design for Learning. This includes a focus on education program design, product development, and classroom instruction to meet the growing global demand for UDL as a design framework that recognizes variability among all learners. 

This multi-year initiative has resulted in a growing ecosystem of UDL professional credentials and certification opportunities. All of these are available on the Learning Designed platform and have supporting learning resources and offer access to a global online community.

Currently, there are three UDL credentials for individuals:

• UDL Associate - Level 1 Credential: Individuals who earn this credential demonstrate an understanding of why UDL is important in today’s learning environments. They can explain the importance of proactive designing for learner variability so all learners have the opportunity to succeed.
• UDL Core Foundation - Level 2 Credential: Individuals who earn this credential show a more refined understanding of how UDL is used in the design of a learning experience to anticipate variability and reduce barriers. Level 2 serves as the foundation for more advanced, skill-based credentials that focus on UDL application.
• UDL Initial Practitioner- Level 3 Credential: The goal of this credential is to demonstrate your ability to apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) at an introductory level. In this credential, you will select your own learning experience to design with UDL.

In addition to the credentials, there is a new opportunity for school certification in UDL: the Universal Design for Learning School Implementation and Certification Criteria (UDL-SICC).