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Addressing Student Diversity Through Assessment
Using Universal Design to Promote Inclusion in Manitoba K–12 Classrooms
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Universal Design
Plan for access
2
Appropriate Educational Programming in Manitoba
Understand the target
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Assessment
Gather fair, responsive evidence
Inclusive assessment is not about lowering expectations. It is about understanding what students are working toward, removing unnecessary barriers, and gathering valid evidence of learning.
Manitoba Foundation: Universal Design, AEP, and Assessment
Why Manitoba policy matters
Manitoba Education describes Universal Design as planning for the full diversity of the student population. Universally designed schools, classrooms, curricula, and materials provide students with access to the resources they require, regardless of diverse abilities and needs.
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.
Assessment Policy Explained:
Designing rigorous pathways for students to show what they know
Assessment should help more students show what they know, not simply sort who can succeed in one format. Educators can keep strong assessment practices that maintain high expectations AND increase access, flexibility, and clarity for diverse learners.
Effective assessment and grading practices are based on what students know and can do relative to the curriculum.

Rehumanizing Assessment
Expanding what counts as evidence
Assessment is not only a task, mark, or product. It is a way of gathering evidence of learning. Tom Schimmer and Natalie Vardabasso use the language of rehumanizing assessment to describe assessment that gathers evidence of student learning through storytelling, connecting assessment with student agency, culturally responsive practice, reflection, creative responses, personal meaning, and authentic ways for students to express knowledge.
Oral Language & Story
How can students show understanding through oral language, storytelling, dialogue, and lived experience?
Identity & Culture
How do we honour student identity, language, culture, and ways of knowing while keeping the learning goal clear?
Land & Community
How do we create space for land-based connections, community knowledge, and relationship as valid evidence?
Avoid Confusing Format with Understanding
Do not confuse written output, speed, test performance, or compliance with actual understanding of the learning goal.
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Move 1: Clarify Learning Goals and Success Criteria
“Success Criteria should provide a clear answer to the question:
  • How will I know that I have learned it?
or
  • How we will know that we have learned it?”
(Fisher & Hattie, 2019)
What Stays the Same
  • The learning goal
  • The success criteria
  • The cognitive demand
  • The connection to the curriculum or student-specific outcome
What Can Change
  • The format
  • The materials
  • The timing
  • The supports
  • The way the student communicates understanding
Use formative assessment to guide next steps
Bringing It Together
Inclusive assessment: clear target, flexible path, responsive evidence
Universal Design
Helps us plan for access across the full diversity of the student population.
Appropriate Educational Programming
Helps us understand the target — what the student is working toward and why it matters.
Manitoba Assessment Policy
Helps us use evidence responsibly, grounded in curricular learning goals and professional judgment.
Rehumanizing Assessment
Reminds us that students are whole people with identities, cultures, stories, strengths, and ways of knowing.
UDL-Aligned Assessment
Helps students show what they know through multiple, flexible, and meaningful pathways.