Assessment is the ongoing activities that allow students and instructors to understand student progress on meeting course learning objectives. Inclusive assessment focuses on creating assessments that minimize exclusion and benefit all learners by being transparent, giving regular and low-stakes feedback, offering multiple means of engagement, aligning with learning outcomes, and designing for diverse needs from the outset. Student learning is also enhanced by exercises or assignments that promote self-assessment and self-awareness of assessment readiness and strategies to improve it.

To increase assessment transparency, clearly articulate expectations, instructions, and grading criteria in advance so students understand what is required for success. Within the assessment, provide clear instructions and avoid references in your questions that would be unclear or unknown to students of different cultures, first generation college students, or students from less wealthy backgrounds. If a specific reference is necessary, provide the necessary background information within the question itself to ensure everyone understands it. Also, avoid complex or advanced vocabulary unless you are testing vocabulary.

• Resource: Avoiding Bias in Test Questions
• Resource: Avoiding Test Bias Activity
• Resource: Transparent Assignment Template

Student learning is prompted by early, low-stakes, frequent assessment and feedback for learning. Provide early, frequent, low-stakes opportunities for students to practice and receive feedback. This helps them monitor their progress and build skills incrementally. Use in-class activities and low-stakes, informal assessments like quizzes to help students practice skills and check for understanding before a major assessment. This also helps identify areas that need improvement. Provide explicit practice with the types of assessment questions you plan to use prior to the graded assessment. Make sure to give students regular feedback so they have an accurate sense of their progress towards the learning objectives.

• Resource: Formative Assessment
• Resource: Strategies for Frequent Low-Stakes Assessment

Offer multiple ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge, such as through various formats (e.g., essays, projects, presentations) and allow students to choose from a range of topics, provided they all align with the learning outcomes. Provide a balance of different types of assessment tasks, such as written work, quizzes, projects, and exams throughout the course.

• Resource: Assessment Alternatives
• Resource: Guide to Alternative Assessment

Make sure your assessments align with your learning objectives. Review the content of the assessments to determine if it is a true reflection of the key topics and skills you have taught in the class and is directly targeted at the student learning outcomes for the course or module.

• Resource: Align Assessments with Objectives
• Resource: Aligning Objectives and Assessment

 Accessibility: Ensure that all materials and platforms are accessible to students with disabilities or other conditions.

• Resource: UDL Principles
• Resource: Universal Design for Learning

Student learning is enhanced by exercises or assignments that promote self-assessment and self-awareness. An example of this may be the use of Exam Wrappers are tools for students to examine their test readiness, identify specific strategies to improve readiness and examine how effective those strategies are so adaptations can be made for future exams.

• Resource: Exam Wrapper
• Resource: Metacognition

Additional Resources for Assessing Progress (downloadable materials; Books & journal articles-be sure campus library has them; website links)

• Resource: Equity in Assessments
• Resource: Cuseo, J. (2015). Effective culturally-inclusive assessment of student learning and academic performance.