Universal Design Alternative Assessment

The two areas of assessment that I think educators know little about are the areas of Universal design and Alternative Assessment. These two areas can be explained in the following:

Universal Design- This form of assessment involves the development of education and curriculum that makes the education and learning process available to every student. This process is not a one size fits all principle but rather the development of a education program that adapts to the needs of students with disabilities as well as high performing students.

Alternative Assessment- Alternative assessment uses activities that reveal what students can do with language, emphasizing their strengths instead of their weaknesses. Alternative assessment instruments are not only designed and structured differently from traditional tests, but are also graded or scored differently. Because alternative assessment is performance based, it helps instructors emphasize that the point of language learning is communication for meaningful purposes. (http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm, 2009)

These two areas of assessment are ways that I feel can greatly improve student learning and success in the classroom. Student learning is after all the goal of education so it only makes sense to me that if there are students with disabilities or students that might not be good test takers both of these areas of assessment allow for them to be successful. Alternative assessment can be used in a class with several other forms of assessment, which is a benefit of the assessment. For example a teacher might be able to use traditional forms of assessment, and then complement them with alternative assessment assignments. Universal design is a tremendous tool for students with disability's and will help integrate inclusion into the classroom. This form of assessment takes a lot of effort on the part of the educator because of the adaptation of the lesson plans but the students will be able to experience success like never before. The effort is worth the reward.