Designing for Mastery
An Integrated Professional Learning Solution
Problem
Teachers make interconnected decisions about standards, learner needs, instructional strategies, and assessment. When these decisions are made separately, planning can become fragmented and difficult to apply consistently.
Solution
Designing for Mastery brings competencies, standards, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), WIDA supports, assessment, and instructional strategies into one coherent planning process. It helps educators plan for learner variability and use evidence of learning to guide instruction.
Try It
Explore the Template
Explore how the template connects learning goals, learner needs, instructional decisions, and evidence of mastery.
Integrated Planning Template
How to Use the Template
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Start with the unit’s competency goals and standards.
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Then identify learner needs, plan UDL options and WIDA language supports.
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Select activities and assessments that provide evidence of mastery.
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Use the learning-plan table to bring those decisions together.
View the full Integrated Planning Template (pdf)
Design Documents
Planning in Practice
The framework helps educators align competencies and standards, anticipate learner variability, select UDL and WIDA supports, and plan assessments that provide evidence of mastery.
The framework brings standards, learner needs, and assessment into one planning process. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) helps educators anticipate learner variability and plan flexible ways to engage with content and demonstrate learning. WIDA language supports help them identify the language demands of instruction and plan scaffolds for multilingual learners. Together, these decisions guide activities and assessments that provide evidence of mastery.
Participant Guide
A guided worksheet that helps educators turn competency goals into standards-aligned instruction, learner supports, and evidence of mastery
View the full Participant Guide (PDF)
Defining Evidence of Mastery
Mastery begins with clearly defined competencies and observable evidence of learning. These rubric templates help educators translate standards and learning goals into performance criteria, describe levels of proficiency, and identify appropriate language supports and ways for learners to demonstrate understanding.
Results & Takeaway
This project demonstrates how I brought standards, learner needs, UDL and WIDA supports, and assessment into one integrated planning process. The planning template and participant guide help educators make connected instructional decisions and identify evidence of mastery. Together, these resources turn a complex planning process into a practical, repeatable workflow.