The content and format of tests play a big part in how well students do on assessments. To ensure teachers can collect “accurate information about student understanding, performance, achievement, and progress,” assessments should be clear, concise, and free of language that students may not understand, write assessment developers Barbara Dame and Karen Lea. ⁣⁣⁠ ⁣⁣⁠ By taking into account the principles of Universal Design for Learning, teachers can create assessments that are both fair and reliable for all students. Here are some recommendations to consider:⁣⁣⁠ ⁣⁠ ⁣ • Language skills: A fair test contains topics and ideas that are familiar to everyone in the class. Look out for language that could be biased towards students “due to cultural, language, geographical, gender, disability, or other demographic characteristics,” the authors note.⁣⁣⁠ ⁣⁠ ⁣ • Idiomatic language: Using phrases like “think outside the box,” for example, can trip up students with different language abilities who m...