Anti-Oppressive Universal Design for Teachers: Building Equitable Classrooms provides a student-centered, culturally responsive blueprint for building sustainable and just educational practices. Marginalized students face complex educational barriers, and undoing educational injustice requires intentional practices designed to be explicitly anti-oppressive. Yet schools continue to adopt trendy “one size fits all” practices that only benefit some. This is not equity.

Author Diana Ma presents a framework that takes the principles of equity and humanizing pedagogy from anti-oppressive theories and the principles of multiplicity and flexible design from Universal Design Learning (UDL). Together, these principles form a framework designed to dismantle specific systemic oppression. The Anti-Oppressive Universal Design framework is designed for educators who want to build practices that work for all students.

The book’s flexible design tools will help you create anti-oppressive and equitable education that frees students to be their full authentic selves in the classroom. In addition, there are classroom strategies and stories to show how this model benefits both students and teachers, providing sustainable alternative to prescriptive practices.

Diana Ma is an anti-oppressive educator and Chinese American author of Middle Grade and Young Adult books. She teaches at North Seattle College and has presented on Anti-Oppressive Universal Design as well as the importance of diverse representation at schools, libraries, and national conferences. Learn more about Diana on her website: Dianamaauthor.com