Defining and Operationalizing Equity-Centered Assessment

Abstract

The discussions on the intersection of equity and assessment continue to expand in higher education, spanning from the inclusion of critical theory (DeLuca Fernández, 2015; Heiser et al., 2017) to a continuum of philosophies (Lundquist & Henning, 2020), and finally to embedding equity in assessment practice (Lundquist & Heiser, 2021; Henning et al., 2021; Montenegro & Jankowski, 2020). This article contributes to the ongoing conversation by (a) offering a transparent definition of equity-centered assessment, (b) providing characteristics of equity-centered assessment in practice, (c) giving examples of equity-centered assessment in Student Affairs, and (d) providing a theoretical framework for operationalizing equity-centered assessment.