Every special educator aims to design instruction that meets each learner where they are and offer every student multiple ways to access rigorous content. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework was developed by CAST in 1998 and grounded in the science of how people learn. UDL provides a structure, organizing instruction around three principles: Multiple means of 1) representation, 2) expression, and 3) engagement. But knowing the UDL framework and consistently planning within it are two different things. A powerful resource helps. What the impact research increasingly shows is that when Goalbook Toolkit is paired with structured professional learning the impact increases.
Two Goalbook impact studies — one in Washington, D.C., and one in Vancouver, Washington — tell a consistent story: Goalbook Toolkit becomes most powerful when it is embedded in coaching and professional learning, not handed to educators as a standalone resource.
When Coaching and Goalbook Work Together, Differentiation Improves
In 2016, Goalbook partnered with the independent research organization WestEd to study how UDL, delivered through instructional coaching, affects educator practice in DC Public Schools. Over four months, three instructional coaches were trained in UDL and then coached ten educators through a structured cycle: co-planning a lesson focused on one student with an upcoming IEP, using Goalbook to build UDL-aligned plans, observing the lesson against a UDL rubric, and conferencing afterward to reflect.
The results were striking in their consistency. On a 0–3 scale, educators’ ability to differentiate instruction rose from 1.7 to 2.4 by their own rating, and from 1.9 to 2.6 as observed by their coaches. Every one of the ten educators improved. And the growth wasn’t limited to educators: the coaches’ own ability to coach differentiation climbed from 2.1 to 3.0. Educators reported stronger planning across all three UDL principles — gains of 0.5 in representation, 0.9 in expression, and 0.8 in engagement — and all 13 participants said Goalbook Toolkit strongly supported their ability to learn about and integrate UDL, naming the Goal Wizard among the most helpful Toolkit resources.
The takeaway from the district’s own coaches was telling. As one put it, the rubric and Goalbook Toolkit together showed “how many different strategies could be incorporated into a lesson” — moving practice beyond “one strategy per category” toward genuinely multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement. Structure plus Goalbook Toolkit changed what educators could see and do.
Educators in the Field Say the Same Thing
That pattern echoes what special educators reported in a separate 2020 external evaluation of Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Washington — a district that had built its Goalbook Toolkit implementation around UDL-focused professional learning since 2017–18. Surveyed educators pointed to the same strengths: the connection between state standards, UDL strategies, and anchor goals; intuitive, standards-aligned goal writing; and the ease of adapting a wide variety of goals to individual learners. Overall, 76% were very or extremely satisfied with Goalbook Toolkit, and in the companion write-up, 94% called Goalbook Toolkit a valuable resource they would continue to use.
Notably, the most common improvement request in both impact studies was the same: Educators wanted more professional learning and collaborative time to use Goalbook Toolkit well. That’s not a critique — it’s a signal about how impact is made. Educators who are given structure and support don’t just adopt Goalbook Toolkit; they build durable capacity.
Why the Combination Works
There’s a through-line here that connects to a broader body of Goalbook research on educator self-efficacy: when educators feel confident and well-supported, their practice — and their satisfaction and retention — improves. In a 2023 impact study, special educators’ self-efficacy for instructional design rose measurably over a year of Goalbook Toolkit usage. The DCPS and Evergreen findings show one concrete mechanism behind that confidence: a structured coaching cycle that makes the UDL framework actionable, with Goalbook Toolkit as the engine that turns a planning principle into a specific, standards-aligned strategy an educator can use tomorrow.
Put simply, the framework provides the why, coaching provides the how, and Goalbook Toolkit provides the what — the concrete goals, strategies, and scaffolds that make UDL real in a lesson plan.
The Payoff: From Differentiated Classrooms to Inclusive Systems
There’s a reason differentiation is worth this much attention. It is the mechanism behind inclusion. When educators can design instruction that gives every learner access to grade-level content, the very capacity this UDL coaching built, more students with disabilities can succeed in the general education classroom rather than a separate setting. Differentiation is the how; a more inclusive placement is the result.
A recent Goalbook Research Team analysis of state-reported data suggests that result shows up at scale. In all 10 states analyzed, long-term Goalbook partners (4+ years of implementation) posted higher inclusion rates than their state’s average by 8.1 percentage points on average. Long-term Goalbook partners outperformed their state average in 10 out of 10 states. One district, Hortonville Area School District, moved from 48% to 88% LRE and eliminated all self-contained emotional/behavioral-disorder classrooms.
That analysis is descriptive, but it closes the loop the UDL coaching study opens. In a four-month coaching study, educators improved measurably at differentiating instruction. From the LRE analysis and the decade of other impact studies, we see the kind of inclusive outcome that stronger differentiation makes possible. Build capacity, and the system can follow.
What This Means for Leaders
For district and school leaders, the practical implication is clear. Don’t just provide tools. Provide a system of structured educator support. The DCPS impact study’s own recommendation was to give educators structured support when implementing UDL, and to train both coaches and educators on how to use UDL resources and Goalbook Toolkit together. That means pairing Goalbook Toolkit access with a coaching model that includes group and individual training, co-planning, observation, and reflection — and give coaches the same hands-on practice with the UDL rubric that they use with educators.
The evidence, across multiple districts and multiple years, points in the same direction. Goalbook Toolkit lifts instruction most when it is woven into professional learning. Invest in both, and educators gain a holistic solution and the capacity to design rigorous, accessible instruction so that all students succeed.
