Best Practices for Inclusive Assessment
Embed Equity in Assessments
- Check biases and assumptions
- “Conscious biases and assumptions might include preferring or responding more favorably to particular response types or styles on an assignment, or beliefs about what model students should do or even look like. Unconscious or implicit biases and assumptions might include responding to or assessing a particular student’s work based on previous interactions or holding beliefs about what students should already know and providing minimal guidance, instruction, or feedback” (Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning, 2022).
- Rethink how you assess student learning
- Scaffold assessments
- Encourage students to reflect on learning
- Design multiple authentic assessment formats
- Clarify assignment instructions and communicate expectations
- Consider the “hidden” curriculum [LINK TO PAGE on live site]
- Provide rubrics
- Involve students in the assessment process
- Rethink grading practices to keep the focus on learning
Give Examples of Prior Student Work
We all learn by example. When scholars author their first paper or develop new creative work, they undoubtedly review the successful examples of others and use them as a guide for crafting their own work.
Similarly, students benefit from being able to review examples of prior students’ work (Atkinson et al., 2000). This is true regardless of whether an assignment demands creativity or highly structured and replicable work.
- Provide examples of high- and low-quality work and share the feedback that you provided (Blonder et al., 2022).
- Or, provide annotation to draw students’ attention to the specific features of the work that were of high or low quality.
Provide Flexibility When Possible
When sickness or unexpected events demand that you miss work, you have the flexibility to do so. But what about our students?
Students’ lives are often divided into multiple, often competing roles, and filled with demands they must balance. By extending flexibility and grace to our students, we make the classroom more inclusive. In their book What Inclusive Instructors Do, Addy and colleagues (2021) emphasize the value of flexibility and the varied methods that instructors have used with success.
Assignments
Due Dates
Communication
Faculty Spotlight
In this video, Dr. Renee Flasher discusses the flexibility of allowing her students a second attempt at an assignment with firm expectations, which contributes to their growth mindset and allows for the students to have an opportunity to demonstrate mastery.
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References
Addy, T. M., Dube, D., Mitchell, K. A., & SoRelle, M. (2021) What inclusive instructors do: Principles and practices for excellence in college teaching. Stylus Publishing, LLC.
Atkinson, R. K., Derry, S. J., Renkl, A., & Wortham, D. (2000). Learning from examples: Instructional principles from the worked examples research. Review of Educational Research, 70(2), 181-214. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.2307/1170661
Blonder, B., Bowels, T., De Master, K., Fanshel, R. Z., Girotto, M., Kahn, A. Keenan, T., Mascarenhas, M., Mgbara, W. Pickett, S., Potts, M., & Rodriguez, M. (2022). Advancing inclusion and anti-racism in the college classroom: A rubric and resource guide for instructors (1.0.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5874656
Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning. (2022). Assessing equitably with all learners in mind. Columbia University. Retrieved December 18, 2024, from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/assessing-equitably/
Nieminen, J. H. (2022). Assessment for inclusion: Rethinking inclusive assessment in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 29(4), 841-859. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.2021395
Pittman, C., & Tobin, T. J. (2022, February 7). Academe has a lot to learn about how inclusive teaching affects instructors. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved January 14, 2025, from https://www.chronicle.com/article/academe-has-a-lot-to-learn-about-how-inclusive-teaching-affects-instructors
Tai, J., Ajjaw, R., & Umarova, A. (2021). How do students experience inclusive assessment? A critical review of contemporary literature. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 28(9), 1936-1953. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2021.2011441
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