Universal Design and K–12 Academic Assessments: A Scoping Review of the Literature

• In Event: Universal Design Elements: Assessment and Experiences for Inclusion

Abstract

This presentation shares preliminary results from a literature scoping review to identify how the concept of Universal Design (UD) has been applied to district and large-scale academic assessments in the U.S. Guiding research questions were: (1) How has the concept of UD been described and applied to K-12 large-scale academic assessments? And (2) To what extent do publications address the application of UD of large-scale assessments to students with disabilities and diverse students (including English learners)? Using established scoping review procedures we found that few resources identify a specific UD framework and those that do rarely align to the elements of the identified framework. Descriptive analyses are ongoing and will result in a white paper in late 2023.

Authors

• Kristin K. Liu, National Center on Educational Outcomes

• Martha L. Thurlow, University of Minnesota

• Mari Quanbeck, National Center on Educational Outcomes

• Jessica A. Bowman, University of Minnesota

• Amy Riegelman, University of Minnesota