What does inclusive and adaptive assessment look like? Ideas for the classroom

In this five-part series, I am exploring adaptive, inclusive and responsive approaches in the classroom. I am focusing on three areas of professional practice: Lesson planning, teaching, and assessment.

In this final instalment, I will consider assessment. School assessments are a vital part of education, measuring progress and guiding learning. However, they can unintentionally discriminate against certain groups of learners, creating barriers to fair outcomes.

Back in part one, I said that inclusive assessment requires 3As:

Accessibility: This is about ensuring that all learners can engage with the process itself. Barriers – whether physical, cognitive, or emotional – must be removed to provide every learner with a fair opportunity to succeed and demonstrate their success. In practice, it is about using plain language and avoiding unnecessary jargon when explaining tasks; presenting information in a variety of ways – written, oral, visual – to accommodate different learning needs.