Applying equitable and inclusive assessment principles

Consider these recommendations when designing new assessment tasks or revising existing ones. Each recommendation is informed by one or more of the principles of equitable and inclusive assessment and recommendations are grouped under the main principle that they support. Each recommendation is accompanied by a rationale and by guiding questions that can support you in implementing the recommendation. You can draw on one or multiple recommendations. Feel free to start small and then build on your progress: Developing equitable and inclusive assessment tasks takes time.^[1]

Clear and criterion referenced 

• Have clear learning outcomes guide what is assessed.^[2][3]
  Rationale: Sharing learning outcomes with students allows them to focus their efforts on what matters most in a course. Learning outcomes help students focus on learning, rather than on trying to guess a course’s aims.^[4]
  Questions: What are the intended learning outcomes for this assessment task? That is, what knowledge, values, or skills should students be able to demonstrate by completing it? 

• Give students a chance to reflect on assessment criteria.^[2] Ensure the language of assessment tasks is clear: You can simplify the language used by adjusting the text’s structure, organization, readability, or adding a visual to support comprehension.^[5][6] Consider tools such as rubrics to help clarify expectations.^{[7][2][3][8][9]} (See PASL 5.5, p. 4.) 
  Rationale: When students understand the criteria and expectations, doing an assessment task is more likely to be a positive learning opportunity and they are more likely to be able to meet expectations for their learning.^[2][3] Beyond providing the criteria for grades and supporting consistent assessment of students’ work, tools such as rubrics can give students a chance to better understand your expectations of what successfully completing an assessment task looks like so students can self-assess their progress.^[5][10] Finally, rubrics can help counter implicit bias.^[5][11]
  Questions: How do students know what the expectations are for the assessment task? What sort of tool can they work with (e.g., checklist, rubric) to check their progress and to determine how consistent their work is with your expectations? “What opportunities do [you] have to be more transparent?” (p. 55)^[8] Could you use exemplars of student work to clarify expectations?^[12]

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Accessible 

• Identify what materials students need to complete the assessment task (see PASL 5.6, p. 4). Consider whether you can make your course more financially accessible to students by using library reserves or Open Educational Resources (OERs), and draw students’ attention to on-campus resources that can support their learning.^[13]
  Rationale: Economic status should not limit students’ ability to complete their assessment tasks. 
  Questions: What do students need to access to successfully complete this assessment task (e.g., textbooks, recording equipment, quiet study space, online subscriptions, etc.)? Do all your students have access to these materials or affordances? Are your materials accessible?^[5]

• Determine whether students can complete the assessment task or exam within the time allotted. You may wish to increase the time allowed for all students or move away from timed exams if students would not face similar time-based expectations in their careers.^[5]
  Rationale: Ensuring sufficient time for students to complete an assessment task increases the likelihood that students’ work on the task will more fully reflect their learning. 
  Questions: How much time do you expect students to spend on the assessment task? Do you know if this expectation is similar to the amount of time that students actually spend on it? 

• Identify common challenges students have faced in the past when doing the assessment task. 
  Rationale: Identifying past common challenges can help you anticipate what may be challenging for students in this course as well. Focusing on common challenges and how the challenge can be addressed through strategies allows focusing on the potential impact on learning, rather than labelling individual learners’ circumstances.^[1] 
  Questions: What are common challenges that students experience in completing this assessment task?

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Supportive

• Decide how you could involve students in assessment decisions or assessment task design, informed by a “students as partners” approach.^[14][15] For instance, consider inviting students to articulate what learning looks like for them, inviting students to co-construct a rubric, or giving students a chance to offer feedback on assessment tasks.^[15]
  Rationale: Involving students in aspects of assessment can result in options for different assessment tasks addressing a given learning outcome, improved student buy-in and understanding of expectations, development of students’ skills in assessment design, and can somewhat change traditional instructor-student power dynamics.^[14][8] Involving students can also give them more agency in their learning, support assessment for inclusion and assessment as learning, and reduce some learning barriers.^[15][16]
  Questions: Are there ways to involve students in the design of assessment tasks or in other assessment decisions? 

• Give students low-stakes opportunities for practice and feedback before their work is assessed.
  Rationale: This allows students “time to modify [the assessment task] as needed before final grades are assigned” (p. 239).^[3]
  Questions: Is there an opportunity for assessment/feedback before a grade is assigned (e.g., peer assessment, self-assessment, TA feedback)?^[2][17] If so, how are students expected to incorporate or report on the feedback received? 

• Identify existing skills or background knowledge that you expect students to have. Determine whether students are actually coming into your course with these existing skills or background knowledge, given the variety of students’ backgrounds and experiences.^[18] Provide opportunities for students to review and reinforce knowledge and skills that they need to succeed on assessment tasks.^[19]
  Rationale: If background skills or knowledge are being assumed that students do not actually possess, then there may be a mismatch. This strategy helps ensure that the assessment task is assessing what you want it to. This is also an opportunity to acknowledge students’ existing strengths and give them a chance to develop those strengths further.^[20]
  Questions: What background skills or knowledge am I assuming students have at the start of the course? How can I know if students have these skills and knowledge already? What support and opportunities for practice can I offer if students do not already have the skills or background knowledge needed? 

• Pick an assessment task and review how you currently give feedback to students. Consider what feedback strategies have worked well and identify one way you can make your feedback clearer or more actionable going forward. For instance, you might consider using an interactive cover sheet so students can identify the particular aspects of their work on which they would like your feedback.
  Rationale: Students benefit from clear and actionable feedback they can use to improve their work on a specific assessment task or on other related assessment tasks in the future. Formative assessment tasks (that is, assessment tasks that provide students with ongoing feedback to guide their learning) can help you and students to gauge their in-progress learning. You can adjust your teaching strategies if needed.
  Questions: Do you provide students with clear and actionable feedback?^[5][21] How might you incorporate formative feedback to support students’ learning?^[20][22]

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Varied and flexible

• Use different types of assessment tasks to give students choices about how to demonstrate their learning.^[17][5] Provide details about the different assessment task choices to help students decide among them and encourage students to consider why they chose a given assessment task.^[12]
  Rationale: Multiple opportunities and access points for assessment provide students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning. Further, students can draw on their strengths and possibly develop additional strengths through opportunities to engage with different types of assessment tasks.^[3]
  Questions: Can students demonstrate their learning in different ways?^[5] Do students have a choice about either the format/modality or the topic of the assessment task? “Are the form, content and mode of assessment appropriate for different groups and individuals? ... How does cultural knowledge mediate individuals’ responses to assessment in ways which alter the construct being assessed?” (p. 273)^[18] When students have a choice among assessment tasks to complete, do you design the assessment tasks so that they are addressing the same learning outcome and they have similar criteria, a comparative workload, and practice and feedback opportunities?^[12]

• Consider whether you wish to provide flexibility in the assessment task due dates, for instance, by allowing students to choose when they will submit an assessment task within a given time period or offering an automatic extension and communicating your decision to students.^[16][5]
  Rationale: Depending on the context, you may decide to provide some flexibility about due dates (always in keeping with PASL), or indicate when deadlines are firm, such as when students must develop one skill before moving on to the next skill.^[5]
  Questions: Are due dates flexible or firm? Have you explained to students your rationale for this decision? 

• When assigning the same type of assessment task on multiple occasions (e.g., quizzes, short written responses, syntheses of key ideas from readings), decide how many instances of that assessment task will count towards a student’s course grade. For instance, if students have six quizzes over the term, perhaps their best four out of six quiz grades count.
  Rationale: This builds flexibility into the course, and can reduce anxiety, as well as the number of requests for exceptions or retaking quizzes.
  Questions: If students have several quizzes or assessment tasks of the same type, would it be appropriate to build in flexibility by dropping the lowest quiz or assessment task score?^[5] If you choose to drop the lowest score, how will you communicate your rationale for this decision? How will you encourage students to practice effective study habits, rather than possibly procrastinating since they know the lowest score will be dropped? 

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Relevant

• Describe the relevance of the assessment tasks.^[23][24]
  Rationale: Students are more willing to engage with an assessment task when it is authentic and they recognize the assessment task’s value, such as within the context of their academic discipline.^[2][23][10]
  Questions: Why does this assessment task exist? How will it support students’ success on other assessment tasks? How will it help students develop skills, knowledge, or values that they will use beyond their courses? 

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Sustainable

• Ensure students’ workload is manageable and appropriately timed over the term. Do not schedule due dates during the University’s official fall and winter reading breaks (PASL 6.8, p. 5). Coordinate where possible in your unit to avoid overloading students. Keep in mind key academic dates. As well, consult the Policy for the Academic Accommodation of Religious Observances and reference the calendar of religious observances as needed.
  Rationale: Reading breaks are intended as opportunities for students to rest, visit loved ones, catch up on work, and focus on wellness. If students have many assessment tasks due at the same time (within a course or across courses) or that coincide with religious observances, they may not be able to fully demonstrate their learning on the assessment tasks.
  Questions: At what point in the term does the assessment task fall? Are assessment tasks scheduled at a time when students have many other assessment tasks due or have religious observances? 

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References

^[1] Cambridge Assessment. (2020). Education brief – inclusive education. International Education. 

^[2] Butcher, J., Sedgwick, P., Lazard, L., & Hey, J. (2010). How might inclusive approaches to assessment enhance student learning in HE? Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education, 2(1), 25–40.

^[3] Bondura, V. (2023). What is a participation grade? Inclusive strategies for engaging students and assessing participation. In K. L. Armstrong et al. (Eds.), Teaching gradually: Practical pedagogy and classroom strategies for graduate students by graduate students (pp. 236–242). Routledge. 

4 ^[4] Fitzpatrick, J., Byrne, E., & Kennedy, D. (2009). Making programme learning outcomes explicit for students of process and chemical engineering. Education for Chemical Engineers, 4(2), 21–28. 

^[5] Center for Educational Innovation. (2023). Equitable assessments: How do I ensure my assessments are equitable and inclusive for all students? University of Minnesota. 

^[6] Lee, E. N., & Orgill, M. (2022). Toward equitable assessment of English language learners in general chemistry: Identifying supportive features in assessment items. Journal of Chemical Education, 99(1), 35–48. 

^[7] Montenegro, E., & Jankowski, N. (2017). Equity and assessment: Moving towards culturally responsive assessment. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, 29.  

^[8] Lundquist, A. E., & Henning, G. (2020). From avoiding bias to social justice: A continuum of assessment practices to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. In A. D. Spicer-Runnels and T. E. Simpson (Eds.), Developing an intercultural responsive leadership style for faculty and administrators (pp. 47–61). Information Science Reference. 

^[9] Debby Ellis Writing Center. (n.d.). Designing rubrics. Southwestern University. 

10 ^[10] Whitburn, B., & Thomas, M. (2023). Ontological assessment decisions in teaching and learning. In R. Ajjawi et al. (Eds.), Assessment for inclusion in higher education: Promoting equity and social justice in assessment (pp. 74–84). Routledge. 

^[11] Sheridan Center. (n.d.). Inclusive assessment of student learning. Brown University. 

^[12] O’Neill, G. (2023). Student choice of assessment methods. In R. Ajjawi et al. (Eds.), Assessment for inclusion in higher education: Promoting equity and social justice in assessment (pp. 199–210). Routledge. 

^[13] Colvard, N. B., Watson, C. E., & Park, H. (2018). The impact of open educational resources on various student success metrics. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 30(2), 262–276. 

^[14] Bourke, R. (2023). Normalising alternative assessment approaches for inclusion. In R. Ajjawi et al. (Eds.), Assessment for inclusion in higher education: Promoting equity and social justice in assessment (pp. 190–198). Routledge. 

^[15] Nieminen, J. H. (2024). Assessment for inclusion: Rethinking inclusive assessment in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 29(4), 1–19. 

^[16] Killam, L., Luctkar-Flude, M., & Tyerman, J. (2023). Shaping social justice values through inclusive assessment and debriefing of elearning modules. The Journal of Nursing Education, 63(1), 1–5. 

^[17] Lawrie, G., Marquis, E., Fuller, E., Newman, T., Qiu, M., Nomikoudis, M., Roelofs, F., & Van Dam, L. (2017). Moving towards inclusive learning and teaching: A synthesis of recent literature. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 5(1), 1–13. 

^[18] Gipps, C. (1995). What do we mean by equity in relation to assessment? Assessment in Education, 2(3), 271–281.

^[19] Eberly Center. (2023). Students performed poorly on an exam: Explore potential strategies. Carnegie Mellon University.  

^[20] Center for Professional Education of Teachers. (n.d.). Equity and assessment. Columbia University. 

^[21] Higbee, J., & Goff, E. (Eds.) (2008). Pedagogy and student services for institutional transformation: Implementing universal design in higher education. University of Minnesota. 

^[22] Sanger, C., & Gleason, N. (2020). Diversity and inclusion in global higher education. Palgrave Macmillan.

^[23] Singer-Freeman, K., Hobbs, H., & Robinson, C. (2019). Theoretical matrix of culturally relevant assessment. Assessment Update 31(4), 1–11.

^[24] Balloo, K., Evans, C., Hughes, A., Zhu, X., & Winstone, N. (2018). Transparency isn’t spoon-feeding: How a transformative approach to the use of explicit assessment criteria can support student self-regulation. Frontiers in Education, 3. 

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