Assessment for Equity

Colin Madland & Jess Mitchell

University of Victoria & Ontario College of Art and Design University

2025-06-05

Preliminaries

have a syllabus you are willing to share at the ready
trust is essential
community is essential
criticize the system, not the people

https://cmad.land

click ‘Slides’

Folks, we have a problem!

Theoretical Foundation

Assessment Triangle

%%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%%
flowchart TD
        A["Technology-Integrated Assessment"]
 subgraph subgraph_2rvu6wpa7["First Order Factors"]
        B("Assessment Purpose")
        C("Duty of Care")
        D("Technology Acceptance")
        E("Assessment Design")
  end
 subgraph subgraph_p3azrijwm["Second Order Factors"]
        F(["Assessment of Learning"])
        G(["Assessment for Learning"])
        H(["Assessment as Learning"])
        I(["Bias"])
        J(["Inclusion"])
        K(["Relationships"])
        L(["Ethical EdTech"])
        M(["Performance Expectancy"])
        N(["Effort Expectancy"])
        O(["Social Influence"])
        P(["Facilitating Conditions"])
        Q(["Measurement Theory"])
        R(["Academic Integrity"])
        S(["Relevance"])
        T(["Reciprocity"])
  end
    A --- B & C & D & E
    B --- F
    F --- G
    G --- H
    C --- I
    I --- J
    J --- K
    K --- L
    D --- M
    M --- N
    N --- O
    O --- P
    E --- Q
    Q --- R
    R --- S
    S --- T
     B:::purpose
     C:::duty
     D:::accept
     E:::design
     F:::purpose
     G:::purpose
     H:::purpose
     I:::duty
     J:::duty
     K:::duty
     L:::duty
     M:::accept
     N:::accept
     O:::accept
     P:::accept
     Q:::design
     R:::design
     S:::design
     T:::design
    classDef purpose fill:#440154,color:#fff,stroke:#440154,stroke-width:4px
    classDef duty fill:#3B528B,color:#fff,stroke:#3B528B,stroke-width:4px
    classDef accept fill:#21918c,color:#fff,stroke:#21918c,stroke-width:4px
    classDef design fill:#5EC962,color:#000,stroke:#5EC962,stroke-width:4px
    style subgraph_2rvu6wpa7 fill:#BBDEFB
    style subgraph_p3azrijwm fill:#C8E6C9

Philosophical Foundation

Jess’ Story

Four stacks of blocks starting with one block and progressively increasing by one block. This shows predictable growth in one direction.

A number of coloured blocks stacked on each other. One cluster is starting to build upwards. Another cluster is just two blocks sitting close to each other. The former represents students who achieve with assessments so are given more assessments and those beget opportunities that result in an accumulation of experiences. The two blocks sitting there represent the student who is deemed to not have achieved enough in assessments to warrant opportunities.

Blocks progressively increasing in size from 1 block to 5 blocks in a 1x block progression. This progression is an ideal and does not represent the impact of factors like postal code, total family income, native English speakers ACEs score, food, clothing, housing.

Who is a Designer?

%%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%%
flowchart LR
A[Do you make decisions?] ---> B((YES!)) ---> C{You're a Designer!}

What is your tolerance for the FALSE POSITIVE?

Are you more concerned with Billy than you are with the FALSE NEGATIVE?

If we cannot have a perfect predictor, what is the error rate that we will tolerate?

Who is accountable?
Who is responsible?
Where does the buck stop?
What is YOUR moral responsibility?

power asymmetries
racial dynamics
mental health considerations
and other challenges

When do we apply ethics?

What you measure is what you value

# of logins
Time of submission
“success” / absence of failure
Completion
“diversity”

Who do the rules limit?

We all are limited by rules
No exceptions
You must report on your department’s success using these measures
Only English speakers can learn from this material
Only graduate students can take this course
Your thoughts must be organized in a 5 paragraph essay
You cannot use Wikipedia as a reference

Practicalities

What does traditional grading hide?

Colin’s Story

Mean Grade for Each Learner
student	Mean
Student1	75
Student2	75
Student3	75
Student4	75

Traditional Gradebook
student	assign.1	assign.2	assign.3	exam
Student1	75	75	75	75
Student2	25	75	100	100
Student3	100	100	75	25
Student4	0	100	100	100