A UDL assessment gives students accessible ways to show the same learning. Name the skill you need evidence of first. If the goal is to explain a science concept, students might write, record, or diagram an explanation. If the goal is to write an argument, the final evidence still needs to include writing.
Design the assessment around the learning goal
- Identify the evidence. Write down what a student who met the goal would say, do, or produce.
- Find a barrier. Look for a task demand that hides the skill, such as copying a large table before doing the math.
- Offer a manageable choice. Start with two response formats or an accessible version of the materials.
- Share the criteria first. Explain what evidence every response needs to include.
Five classroom assessment examples
1. Reading: explain a main idea
Students read or listen to the same passage and respond in writing, in audio, or with a graphic organizer. Each response states the main idea and explains how two details support it. If you are assessing decoding, collect a separate reading sample.
2. Math: compare unit prices
Present four notebooks for $6 and six for $8.40 in both a short paragraph and a labeled table. Let students use a ratio table, number line, or equations. Check that they calculate $1.50 and $1.40 per notebook, label the units, and justify their choice. Use fresh numbers on an independent exit ticket.
3. Science: explain a cooling trend
Provide a temperature table with readable headers and a description of the experiment. Accept an annotated graph, a recording, or a written explanation. Every response needs two readings, a comparison over equal time intervals, and reasoning about heat transfer.
4. History: support a claim with sources
Provide legible primary-source excerpts and a transcript for hard-to-read scans. Students can present or write a response. Ask for a claim, evidence from two sources, and an explanation of how one source’s perspective affects its interpretation.
5. Writing: make a persuasive argument
Offer a graphic organizer, a planning conversation, or speech-to-text for drafting. Collect a written argument and ask students to revise it using feedback. Assess the claim, evidence, and reasoning. Assess spelling explicitly if it is a separate learning goal.
A scoring guide you can adapt
For the science example, score each criterion from 0 to 2. Use 2 for complete evidence, 1 for partial evidence, and 0 when the evidence is missing or incorrect.
- Claim. Identifies which cup cooled more slowly.
- Evidence. Uses two accurate readings and compares equal time intervals.
- Reasoning. Connects the change in temperature to the rate of heat transfer.
Give feedback on the next step. For example, “Your readings support your claim. Now explain how the insulation affected heat transfer.” That feedback works whether the student submitted a recording, a graph, or a paragraph.
Plan your next assessment
Use the UDL Assessment Checklist to review the task and the UDL Lesson Plan Template to record the goal, options, and criteria. See the middle school math lesson and high school science lesson for complete examples.