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Curriculum Modification in Inclusive Classrooms
Planning Meaningful Access, Participation, and Progress
Monday, May 25 · École Secondaire Neelin High School
“While the provincial curriculum is appropriate educational programming for most students, some students have intellectual developmental disorders or intellectual deficits that prevent them from accessing some or all of the provincial curriculum. Within Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning’s philosophy of inclusion, two instructional supports, modification and individualized programming, provide students with intellectual developmental disorder access to educational benefits, supporting meaningful involvement in the school community and promoting enhanced student well-being.”
— Supporting Inclusion, Modification and Individualized Programming in Manitoba Schools, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning, 2023 🔗
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1
Appropriate Educational Programming in Manitoba
Plan for access
2
Defining Success Criteria: Inclusive Assessment
Understand the target
3
Planning for Engagement & Collect Evidence
Gather fair, responsive evidence
Understanding your own data:
Appropriate Educational Programming in Manitoba Schools
This session is grounded in Manitoba's framework for inclusive educational programming. This clarity matters because teachers need to know when they are differentiating, adapting, modifying, or planning beyond grade-level outcomes.
Instructional Supports for Diversity
  • Differentiated instruction
  • Adaptation
  • Modification
  • Individualized programming
Each responds to specific programming needs connected to expected learning outcomes or student-specific outcomes.
What Is Curriculum Modification?
Curriculum modification means changing the number, essence, or content of the student's grade-level provincial expected learning outcomes in a subject or course.
Modification Is:
  • Outlined in a CMP
  • Subject/course specific — not global
  • Based on student need
  • Connected to assessment and reporting

We do not modify a student. We modify a subject or course.
How Do Teachers Plan for Students on CMPs?
The CMP guides the daily plan. The daily plan brings the CMP to life.
Start With the Course or Unit
What is the class learning?
Review Expected Learning Outcomes
What can be retained, changed, or deleted?
Identify the Meaningful Learning Priority
What should this student learn, practise, or demonstrate?
Determine Success Criteria
What will success look like?
Plan Participation & Collect Evidence
How will the student connect to the classroom activity? How will we know progress is happening?
Eligibility Is Not the Same as Suitability
Curriculum modification is intended for students who meet Criterion A of an intellectual developmental disorder diagnosis and would benefit from modification to meet their learning needs. A student may meet eligibility criteria, but modification is still considered subject by subject, course by course.
Eligibility
Does the student meet the criteria for curriculum modification?
Eligibility opens the conversation.
Suitability
Is curriculum modification appropriate for this subject or course at this time?
Suitability guides the decision.

These are two distinct questions. Answering "yes" to eligibility does not automatically answer "yes" to suitability in every course.
Inclusive Assessment, Engagement, Grading & Reporting
Engagement matters
If a student is engaging with grade-level outcomes, we can collect evidence (even if they need considerable support).
Manitoba grade scale anchor
"Limited" ("1" on the ordinal scale; 50% to 59%) is a passing grade; that is, the student is engaging with grade-level outcomes and is progressing, albeit with limitations requiring significant attention and support.
Achievement profile lens
Profiles describe achievement across the scale, including language such as:
  • "Requires considerable, ongoing teacher support …"
  • "Requires occasional teacher or peer support …"
And they clarify that references to "support / prompt / teacher support / peer support" do not refer to adaptations.
What this means for inclusive assessment (K–12)
When assessing students (including ASD & co-occurring needs), always ask:
  • Is the student engaging with the outcome (even with significant support)? If yes, you can gather evidence toward a 1 / Limited level.
  • Which supports are universal scaffolding (available to anyone; not automatically "adaptations")?
  • Which supports become documented adaptations (planned changes to access conditions)?
  • What evidence will you accept so the grade reflects learning, not barriers (writing, reading volume, time pressure, sensory load, task completion)?
Modification Requires Success Criteria & Planning for ALL
If we change the outcome, we must also change the success criteria. Modification is not reducing quantity — it is changing the learning target and defining what success looks like.
Learning taxonomies help adjust complexity: Analyze → Identify · Explain → Match · Compare → Sort · Evaluate → Choose with support · Write independently → Communicate using visuals, oral response, AAC, or sentence frames.
Goals for All
Big idea / Essential understanding. Limited / 1 / 50–59%
Goals for Some
Basic and Good understanding. 60–79%
Goals for Few
Very Good / Excellent. 80–100%
Modifications & Adaptations
Student names, modified outcomes, and specific supports identified here.
What Can I Try Tomorrow?
Not every student who struggles needs modified curriculum. Every student needs intentional support. Start with the student. Start with the big idea. Define success. Design access. Document progress.
Retain, Change, or Delete
Review each outcome: Is it achievable with supports (retain)? Can the concept be modified (change)? Or is it not currently meaningful (delete)?
Assess What You Planned
Evidence can include conversation, observation, work samples, photos, checklists, AAC responses, oral responses, sorting tasks, prompting-level data, and independence data.
Final Reflection Prompts
One student · One course or unit · One meaningful learning priority · One adaptation · One modification if appropriate · One participation strategy · One piece of evidence to collect.

Start with the student. Start with the big idea. Define success. Design access. Document progress.