Seesaw Awarded CAST UDL Product Certification Recognizing Commitment to Equity & Accessibility

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Sep 16, 2024, 09:00 ET

Instructional platform receives industry recognition for accessible and inclusive
multimodal tools that empower all students to showcase their work

WAKEFIELD, Mass., Sept. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a longstanding commitment to supporting accessibility and learner variability, Seesaw, the only Learning Experience Platform built specifically for elementary learners and their teachers, has been awarded the prestigious CAST Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Product Certification. This Product Certification highlights Seesaw's dedication to advancing inclusive e dtech innovation. This recognition underscores Seesaw's commitment to integrating evidence-based practices that support the full range of learners into the design of its products, ensuring that students of all abilities can access, engage with, and express their learning in meaningful ways.

For decades, CAST's UDL framework has served as the industry-leading guidelines for inclusive instruction. The CAST UDL Product Certification rigorously evaluates how well an edtech product's design aligns with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. This framework emphasizes the importance of creating learning experiences that are accessible and inclusive for all students, regardless of their unique learning needs, and honors the assets and experiences the child brings to the classroom. Seesaw's platform and multimodal tools empower all students to showcase their work through various mediums including photo, video, voice, and text; audio and visual directions, task modeling, and scaffolded steps enable students to engage more readily with the curriculum, including clear modeling of fluent language, real-world images, and increased opportunity for practice in a safe learning environment. These tools not only align with the UDL framework, but also have been proven to improve student outcomes on end-of-year state exams.

As accessibility continues to gain prominence in national education policy, Seesaw's achievement of this certification highlights its dedication to fostering an environment where all learners can thrive. Teachers and students nationwide have already begun to see the benefits of Seesaw's UDL-aligned tools, with educators noting a marked improvement in student engagement and accessibility. In a recent survey of nearly a thousand educators, 95% of teachers reported Seesaw enables them to meet their diverse learners' needs.

"A recent update to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will require EdTech vendors and K-12 districts to work together to meet the new accessibility requirements by the stated deadline. The CAST UDL Product Certification can help organizations document the work they are doing to meet the Title II requirements. With the number of EdTech products to consider and the usage of those products increasing daily, a certification that improves the clarity and transparency of accessibility information to guide purchasing decisions is more needed than ever. We are proud to recognize Seesaw for their contributions to promoting equity and accessibility" said Luis Perez, Disability & Digital Inclusion Lead at CAST.

"Seesaw's long-standing commitment to equity and empowering all students has been fundamental to our platform and curriculum design since Seesaw's founding. This CAST UDL Product Certification is not only recognition for this work but aligns us with the industry's leading accessibility guidelines," said Sara Romero-Heaps, Seesaw's Chief Product Officer. "As a CAST partner, we are excited to continue investing in accessibility to ensure all students learn in a way that works for them."

To learn more about the UDL Product Certification, visit our websites at https://bit.ly/4dLWH9w and https://bit.ly/UDL-ProductCert.

About CAST and the CAST UDL Product Certification:
CAST is a nonprofit education research and professional development and learning organization that created the Universal Design for Learning framework and UDL Guidelines, now used the world over to make learning more inclusive. At the foundation of UDL is accessibility and accessible educational materials, as such, CAST runs The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) and The Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems (CITES).

The UDL Product Certification, developed in partnership with Digital Promise, is designed to evaluate how strongly an edtech product's design is aligned with the UDL framework. Products must provide transparent communication about accessibility practices and conformance to customers and must align with the UDL Guidelines, demonstrating how the product's design features provide multiple ways for learners to engage with the learning experience, access the learning materials, and express their knowledge and skills.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) serves as a foundational framework for proactive design of products, materials, environments, and experiences, with an intentional focus on learner variability and the removal of barriers within the learning experience.

About Seesaw:
Trusted and loved by 25 million educators, students, and families worldwide, Seesaw is the only elementary learning experience platform, offering a suite of award-winning tools, resources, and curriculum for teachers to deliver joyful, inclusive instruction. Through interactive lessons, digital portfolios, and two-way communication features, Seesaw keeps everyone in the learning loop by providing continuous visibility into the student's learning experience to support and celebrate their learning.

SOURCE Seesaw