Adjusting the Path to Positive Student Learning Outcomes

As educational leaders and teachers, your ultimate measure of success lies in what your students learn and how they apply that knowledge. While student learning outcomes are a required metric, they also help you guide your instructional choices that lead to meaningful learning for all students.

Learning outcomes clearly define what a student should know, understand, or be able to do by the end of a course, grade level, or program. They shift the focus from merely teaching content to ensuring observable and measurable mastery of that content. When outcomes are clear, they support both educators in designing effective instruction and assessment and students in understanding the learning goal.

The Challenge of One-Size-Fits-All Assessment

Your classrooms are filled with creative thinkers, students with various levels of support needs, and those that think “outside the box”. Students come with varying backgrounds, strengths, and challenges - including those with unique learning needs or who are neurodivergent (e.g., students with ADHD, dyslexia, or autism).

Expecting every student to demonstrate mastery in the exact same way—a standard five-paragraph essay or a timed multiple-choice test—often measures their ability to perform under specific constraints rather than their true understanding. This restrictive approach can obscure genuine learning, leading to inaccurate assessment data and, most critically, poorer learning outcomes for a significant portion of our student population.

How Can We Make Learning Equitable for All Students?

By using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a foundation for creating learning opportunities that meet the needs of all of your students. UDL, a framework developed by CAST, guides the design of learning environments to be accessible and engaging for all. It anticipates learner variability from the outset and helps to create instruction that works better for everyone.

UDL is structured around three core principles, each providing multiple options for how students can interact with content, directly supporting enhanced learning outcomes and the demonstration of mastery. 

Let’s take a look:

1. Multiple Means of Engagement (The "Why" of Learning)

This principle focuses on the affective network—the emotional component of learning. To improve engagement and motivation, UDL suggests offering choices:

• Offer options to make learning more intresting: Let students choose topics or tools for a project, connect learning to their personal lives, or work in groups or independently.

• Offer options to help students adjust and monitor their own learning: Provide clear rubrics, varied levels of challenge, and opportunities for self-reflection and goal-setting.

2. Multiple Means of Representation (The "What" of Learning)

This principle addresses the recognition network—how students gather and categorize information. It ensures content is presented in ways that are accessible to all learners:

• Offer options that are accessible and multi-sensory: Provide text paired with audio narration, use visual aids, offer adjustable font sizes, and ensure all media is captioned.

• Offer options for language, expressions, and symbols: Define domain-specific vocabulary, use graphic organizers to illustrate relationships, and offer multiple formats (e.g., text, video, simulation) to explain complex concepts.

3. Multiple Means of Action and Expression (The "How" of Learning)

This principle focuses on the strategic network—how students plan and perform tasks, and critically, how they demonstrate their learning and “show what they know”. This is the core principle that directly supports the idea of multiple pathways to mastery.

• Offer options for students to physically respond: Allow students to use speech-to-text, assistive technology, manipulatives, or alternative input methods instead of requiring manual writing or typing.

• Offer options for expression and communication: Instead of a standard test, allow students to:

  • Create a podcast or video documentary.

  • Design an infographic or interactive presentation.

  • Build a physical model or digital simulation.

  • Write a formal paper or an oral report.

  • Develop a comic strip or storyboard to explain a process.

    
    

Do We Want Students to Deeply Understand Content?

Yes. To make the shift towards greater student learning outcomes, we have to ensure that students have multiple, flexible ways of showing that they are learning or have mastered content.

When we implement UDL and offer diverse assessment methods, we are not lowering standards. We are simply making the assessment of those standards more accurate and equitable. A student with dysgraphia who can brilliantly explain the principles of $F=ma$ in a verbal presentation has demonstrated the same understanding of physics as a student who wrote a perfect exam answer. A neurodivergent student who struggles with abstract reading but excels at building a conceptual model of cellular respiration is showing clear mastery.

By adopting UDL principles, especially in the areas of response and presentation, we can ensure accessible learning for all students, leading to more authentic expression, deeper engagement, and greater learning outcomes for all.