Backward Design: A Complete Handbook for Planning Instruction

Introduction

In the landscape of educational planning, few methodologies have transformed instructional design as profoundly as Backward Design. Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their influential work “Understanding by Design” (1998), this approach fundamentally reverses traditional planning processes by beginning with the end in mind. Rather than starting with activities or textbooks and hoping students achieve desired outcomes, Backward Design establishes clear learning goals first, then determines assessment evidence, and finally plans learning experiences and instruction.

This comprehensive handbook explores the theoretical foundations, practical applications, and transformative potential of Backward Design as an instructional planning framework. Whether you are a novice teacher seeking structure for your planning process, a veteran educator looking to refine your approach, or an instructional coach supporting teachers’ development, this guide provides the tools, templates, and strategies needed to implement Backward Design effectively across educational contexts.

Part I: Understanding Backward Design

The Philosophy and Origins of Backward Design

Backward Design emerged as a response to what Wiggins and McTighe identified as problematic patterns in traditional instructional planning. Too often, they observed, teachers would:

1. Begin planning by selecting activities and materials
2. Move through content in a sequential manner
3. Hope that understanding would naturally emerge
4. Assess students only after instruction

This “coverage-focused” approach frequently resulted in fragmented learning experiences where students might complete assignments without developing genuine understanding or transferable knowledge.

Wiggins and McTighe proposed an alternative: start by clearly defining what students should understand and be able to do, then work backward to design assessments and learning experiences that lead to those outcomes. This approach draws from several philosophical and theoretical traditions:

• Constructivist Learning Theory: The belief that learners actively construct meaning rather than passively receive information
• Essential Questions Philosophy: The value of organizing learning around fundamental, transferable concepts and questions
• Results-Oriented Design: The focus on defining clear results before designing processes
• Assessment-Centered Planning: The recognition that assessment should drive instruction, not merely follow it

The core principle underlying Backward Design is elegantly simple: clarity about destinations must precede the planning of journeys. When educators begin with clear learning outcomes, they can design more purposeful, coherent learning experiences that lead to deeper understanding.

The Three-Stage Backward Design Process

Backward Design follows a three-stage process that intentionally inverts traditional planning sequences:

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

In this initial stage, educators clarify what students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of instruction. This involves:

• Examining established content standards and curriculum expectations
• Determining what enduring understandings students should develop
• Crafting essential questions that will guide inquiry
• Defining specific knowledge and skills students should acquire

The process requires thoughtful prioritization, as Wiggins and McTighe emphasize the need to distinguish between three levels of curricular priorities:

1. Enduring Understandings: The big ideas and core processes that have lasting value beyond the classroom
2. Important to Know and Do: Knowledge and skills essential to the discipline but perhaps less transferable
3. Worth Being Familiar With: Content that enriches learning but isn’t essential to understanding

This prioritization helps educators avoid the “coverage trap” by focusing on depth over breadth.

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Once desired results are established, educators plan how they will determine if students have achieved them. This evidence-planning stage includes:

• Designing authentic performance tasks that require transfer of learning
• Creating other evidence-gathering assessments (quizzes, tests, observations)
• Developing self-assessment and reflection opportunities
• Establishing criteria for success (rubrics, checklists, exemplars)

The key principle in this stage is alignment—ensuring that assessments genuinely measure the understanding and knowledge identified in Stage 1. Authentic assessments that mirror real-world applications of knowledge are particularly valued in Backward Design.

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

Only after clarifying outcomes and assessment evidence do educators design the learning journey. This final stage involves:

• Selecting or creating learning activities aligned with desired results
• Sequencing learning experiences for optimal understanding
• Differentiating instruction to address diverse learner needs
• Identifying resources, materials, and technologies to support learning

The guiding question for this stage is: “What learning experiences will best enable students to achieve the desired results and perform successfully on the assessments?”

This three-stage process creates a logical alignment between outcomes, assessments, and learning experiences that characterizes all well-designed instruction.

Benefits of the Backward Design Approach

Research and practice have demonstrated numerous advantages of the Backward Design methodology:

1. Increased Instructional Coherence: When planning begins with clear learning targets, all components of instruction naturally align toward those goals.
2. Enhanced Assessment Validity: Assessments designed specifically to measure identified outcomes provide more accurate information about student learning.
3. Improved Learner Engagement: When students understand learning goals and their relevance, motivation often increases.
4. Greater Instructional Focus: The prioritization process helps teachers allocate time and resources to the most important learning.
5. Better Transfer of Learning: By focusing on enduring understandings and authentic assessment, students develop more transferable knowledge.
6. Increased Teacher Intentionality: The methodology encourages reflective, purposeful teaching rather than activity-focused instruction.
7. Enhanced Curriculum Articulation: When teams use Backward Design, vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment improves across grade levels and subject areas.

Educators who adopt Backward Design often report that while initial planning requires more time and thought, the resulting instruction is more effective and the long-term planning process becomes more efficient.

Part II: Implementing Stage 1 - Identifying Desired Results

Unpacking Standards and Curriculum Requirements

Most educational contexts include established standards or curriculum frameworks that define expected learning outcomes. The first step in Backward Design involves carefully analyzing these standards to identify what students should know and be able to do.

Effective standards unpacking includes:

1. Close Reading: Examining the precise language of standards, noting verbs (which indicate cognitive demands) and nouns (which indicate content).
2. Identifying Components: Breaking complex standards into discrete knowledge and skill components.
3. Recognizing Implied Skills: Identifying prerequisite skills not explicitly stated but necessary for standard mastery.
4. Determining Cognitive Levels: Analyzing the depth of thinking required using frameworks like Bloom’s Taxonomy or Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.
5. Considering Vertical Alignment: Understanding how standards build across grade levels or course sequences.

For example, a middle school science standard might state: “Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.”

Unpacking reveals this standard requires students to:

• Understand Earth’s rotation and unequal heating (content knowledge)
• Develop models (scientific practice)
• Explain causal relationships between Earth systems (analytical thinking)
• Connect global patterns to regional climate (application)

This detailed unpacking provides the foundation for identifying specific learning outcomes.

Crafting Enduring Understandings

Enduring understandings represent the “big ideas” that have lasting value beyond the classroom. They are typically:

• Transferable to new situations
• Based on essential disciplinary concepts
• Counterintuitive or easily misunderstood
• Framed as full-sentence generalizations

Well-crafted enduring understandings move beyond facts to express relationships, causes, or principles. Consider these examples:

Subject	Weak Understanding	Strong Enduring Understanding
Math	Students will understand decimals.	Mathematical operations with decimals follow the same principles as operations with whole numbers, but require attention to place value.
History	Students will understand the Civil War.	Wars, including the U.S. Civil War, typically result from multiple long-term tensions rather than single triggering events.
Language Arts	Students will understand persuasive writing.	Effective persuasion requires understanding both the logical and emotional aspects of an audience’s perspective.

Developing 2-5 enduring understandings for a unit provides focus for both teaching and learning.

Developing Essential Questions

Essential questions work in tandem with enduring understandings to frame instruction. These questions:

• Have no single, final answer
• Raise additional important questions
• Require higher-order thinking
• Recur naturally throughout learning
• Stimulate ongoing inquiry

They come in two main varieties:

1. Overarching Essential Questions: Broad questions that cross units or even disciplines (e.g., “How do authors influence readers?”)
2. Unit-Specific Essential Questions: Questions tied to particular content (e.g., “How does Shakespeare use character foils to develop themes in Romeo and Juliet?”)

Effective essential questions provoke genuine inquiry and reveal the relevance of content. They transform “learning about” into “figuring out.”

Defining Knowledge and Skills

While enduring understandings and essential questions provide conceptual frameworks, specific knowledge and skills must also be clearly identified:

Knowledge includes:

• Facts
• Concepts
• Principles
• Processes
• Vocabulary

Skills include:

• Cognitive operations
• Physical abilities
• Communication capacities
• Social competencies
• Technical procedures

For example, in a unit on ecosystems:

Knowledge:

• Components of ecosystems (biotic/abiotic)
• Types of relationships (predator/prey, symbiotic)
• Energy flow through food webs
• Biogeochemical cycles

Skills:

• Creating scientific models
• Analyzing interdependent relationships
• Predicting system changes based on disruptions
• Conducting controlled observations

This granular identification of knowledge and skills ensures comprehensive planning and supports differentiated instruction.

Part III: Implementing Stage 2 - Determining Acceptable Evidence

Designing Authentic Performance Tasks

Performance tasks form the cornerstone of assessment in Backward Design, providing students opportunities to demonstrate understanding in realistic contexts. Effective performance tasks:

1. Require Application and Transfer: Students apply learning to new situations
2. Mirror Real-World Challenges: Tasks resemble those found in professional contexts
3. Engage Multiple Intelligences: Allow diverse ways of demonstrating understanding
4. Integrate Multiple Learning Outcomes: Assess several standards simultaneously
5. Provide Appropriate Challenge: Balance accessibility with authentic complexity

The GRASPS framework offers a useful structure for designing performance tasks:

• Goal: The objective or challenge students face
• Role: The authentic position students assume
• Audience: The person(s) for whom the work is intended
• Situation: The context or scenario
• Product/Performance: What students will create
• Standards: Criteria for success

For example, rather than a traditional test on government, students might:

As a citizen advocacy group (Role), you will create a voter’s guide (Product) for first-time voters in our community (Audience) to help them understand how local government decisions impact their lives (Goal). With upcoming local elections (Situation), your guide must accurately explain governmental structures, analyze current issues from multiple perspectives, and provide factual, non-partisan information (Standards).

Such tasks not only assess understanding but also develop transferable skills and increase engagement.

Developing Traditional Assessments

While performance tasks provide rich evidence of understanding, more focused assessments also play important roles in a comprehensive assessment plan:

1. Quizzes and Tests: Efficiently assess knowledge acquisition and discrete skills
2. Academic Prompts: Require analysis and explanation in structured formats
3. Observations and Dialogues: Provide insights into thinking processes
4. Work Samples and Artifacts: Demonstrate skill development over time

These assessments should still align with desired results and emphasize understanding rather than mere recall. Even traditional formats can assess higher-order thinking through careful design:

Assessment Type	Lower-Level Example	Higher-Level Example
Multiple Choice	What is the formula for area of a triangle?	Which scenario would result in the largest percent increase in a triangle’s area?
Short Answer	List three causes of the American Revolution.	Explain how economic and ideological factors interacted to cause the American Revolution.
Essay	Describe the water cycle.	Analyze how human activities in our region are affecting specific stages of the water cycle.

A balanced assessment plan includes both major performance tasks and smaller, focused assessments distributed strategically throughout the instructional sequence.

Creating Rubrics and Success Criteria

Clear success criteria are essential for both assessment validity and student guidance. Well-designed rubrics:

1. Describe performance qualities across multiple levels
2. Use specific, observable language
3. Focus on understanding and transfer, not just completion
4. Address both content and process dimensions
5. Distinguish between different aspects of performance

Analytic rubrics separate performance into distinct criteria, while holistic rubrics provide integrated performance level descriptions. Both approaches have value depending on assessment purposes.

Sharing and discussing success criteria with students before instruction begins helps them understand targets and take ownership of their learning. Consider involving students in rubric development or analysis of exemplars to deepen their understanding of quality work.

Planning for Self-Assessment and Reflection

Backward Design emphasizes student metacognition as both an assessment tool and a learning strategy. Structured self-assessment and reflection opportunities:

• Develop metacognitive awareness
• Build evaluative thinking skills
• Support autonomous learning
• Provide additional assessment evidence
• Deepen understanding through articulation

Effective reflection prompts might include:

• What was the most challenging aspect of this task, and how did you approach it?
• How does your work demonstrate your understanding of [key concept]?
• What feedback would you give yourself based on the rubric criteria?
• How would you approach this differently if you had another opportunity?
• How does this learning connect to other contexts or subjects?

When integrated throughout the learning process rather than tacked on at the end, reflection becomes a powerful tool for both assessment and learning.

Part IV: Implementing Stage 3 - Planning Learning Experiences and Instruction

Selecting Instructional Approaches

With clear outcomes and assessment evidence established, educators can select instructional approaches that best facilitate the desired learning. This selection should consider:

1. Alignment with Outcomes: Does the approach help students develop the identified knowledge, skills, and understandings?
2. Assessment Preparation: Will the approach prepare students for the performance tasks and other assessments?
3. Student Characteristics: Is the approach appropriate for students’ developmental levels, backgrounds, and learning preferences?
4. Resource Availability: Are necessary materials, technologies, and supports available?
5. Research-Based Effectiveness: Does evidence support the approach for teaching this content?

Effective units typically incorporate multiple instructional approaches, potentially including:

• Direct instruction for foundational knowledge
• Inquiry-based learning for conceptual understanding
• Collaborative learning for perspective-building
• Demonstrations and modeling for skill development
• Independent practice for skill refinement
• Discussion for meaning-making and articulation
• Project-based learning for integration and application

The key principle is purposeful selection rather than preference or habit—each approach should serve specific learning outcomes.

Sequencing Learning Experiences

Thoughtful sequencing of learning experiences supports progression toward understanding:

1. Begin with Engaging Entry Points: Hook students with provocative questions, problems, or scenarios related to essential questions.
2. Develop Foundational Knowledge and Skills: Ensure students acquire necessary tools before tackling complex applications.
3. Provide Guided Practice: Support initial application attempts with scaffolding and feedback.
4. Build Toward Transfer: Gradually release responsibility, presenting increasingly novel contexts.
5. Include Formative Checkpoints: Embed opportunities to assess understanding and adjust instruction.
6. Incorporate Reflection: Schedule deliberate reflection on learning progress and processes.
7. Culminate with Synthesis: Design culminating experiences that require integration of learning.

Effective sequence design balances structure with flexibility, allowing for instructional adjustments based on student progress.

Differentiation Within the Backward Design Framework

Backward Design naturally supports differentiation by clearly establishing learning goals while allowing multiple pathways to achievement. Differentiation might address:

1. Content: Varying the complexity, abstraction, or tools for accessing content
   • Tiered readings or resources
   • Varied examples or models
   • Supplementary materials for extension or support
2. Process: Modifying how students engage with content
   • Flexible grouping strategies
   • Varied instructional formats
   • Adjusted pacing or scaffolding
   • Multiple modality options
3. Product: Providing options for demonstrating understanding
   • Choice in presentation formats
   • Variable complexity levels
   • Customized support resources
   • Adjusted evaluation criteria
4. Environment: Creating optimal learning conditions
   • Physical space arrangements
   • Sensory accommodations
   • Social-emotional supports
   • Technology integration

The key principle is maintaining consistent learning goals while providing multiple pathways to success. Differentiation decisions should be guided by ongoing assessment data to ensure all students progress toward identified outcomes.

Resource Selection and Development

Effective resource selection flows from clearly identified learning outcomes:

1. Evaluate Alignment: Do resources directly support the knowledge, skills, and understandings identified in Stage 1?
2. Assess Accessibility: Are resources appropriate for students’ reading levels, background knowledge, and learning needs?
3. Consider Engagement: Will resources captivate student interest and maintain motivation?
4. Check for Accuracy and Currency: Do resources provide accurate, up-to-date information?
5. Ensure Representativeness: Do resources reflect diverse perspectives and experiences?

Resources might include:

• Texts and readings
• Digital media and technologies
• Primary sources
• Manipulatives and models
• Community connections
• Expert resources

When existing resources are insufficient, teachers may need to adapt materials or create custom resources to fully align with learning goals.

Part V: Practical Applications and Examples

Elementary Education Example: Grade 3 Science Unit

Stage 1: Desired Results

Enduring Understandings:

• Different animals have structural adaptations that serve various functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
• An organism’s survival depends on the relationship between its adaptations and its environment.

Essential Questions:

• How do animals’ physical characteristics help them survive?
• How do changes in an environment affect the animals that live there?

Knowledge:

• Structural adaptations (camouflage, mimicry, etc.)
• Behavioral adaptations (migration, hibernation, etc.)
• Habitat characteristics and requirements
• Animal classification basics

Skills:

• Observing and recording animal characteristics
• Classifying adaptations by function
• Making predictions about survival in specific environments
• Constructing evidence-based explanations

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Task:
Students will design a new animal adapted to survive in a specific environment (desert, arctic, rainforest, or ocean). They will create a detailed model, write a scientific description explaining how each adaptation helps the animal survive, and present their creation to the class.

Other Evidence:

• Adaptation sorting activities
• Habitat-animal matching quizzes
• Prediction scenarios about environmental changes
• Observation logs from field trips or videos
• Self-assessment of animal designs

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Week 1: Introduction to Adaptations

• Entry event: Mystery animal adaptations box
• Read-alouds featuring animals with distinctive adaptations
• Guided observations of classroom animals or video examples
• Initial classification of adaptations by function

Week 2: Environments and Survival

• Virtual field trips to different environments
• Habitat analysis activities
• Small group research on specific environment-adaptation connections
• Simulation games demonstrating survival challenges

Week 3: Application and Creation

• Introduction of performance task
• Research and planning time
• Model creation with various materials
• Scientific writing support
• Peer feedback sessions

Week 4: Refinement and Presentation

• Model refinement based on feedback
• Explanation writing completion
• Presentation preparation
• Gallery walk and presentations
• Reflection on learning

Secondary Education Example: High School Economics Unit

Stage 1: Desired Results

Enduring Understandings:

• Economic systems represent different ways societies answer the fundamental questions of what to produce, how to produce it, and who receives the benefits.
• Market economies and command economies reflect different values and create different patterns of advantages and disadvantages.

Essential Questions:

• How do societies balance efficiency, equity, and individual freedom in their economic systems?
• What happens when economic systems face scarcity or external shocks?

Knowledge:

• Characteristics of market, command, and mixed economies
• Role of incentives in economic decision-making
• Concepts of efficiency, equity, and economic freedom
• Major economic indicators and their significance

Skills:

• Analyzing economic data and trends
• Evaluating economic policies using multiple criteria
• Applying economic concepts to novel situations
• Comparing economic outcomes across systems

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Task:
Students will serve as economic advisors to a developing nation designing its economic system. They will analyze the nation’s resources, values, and challenges, then develop a detailed economic framework with justifications for their recommendations. They will present their plan to a panel playing the role of the nation’s leadership council.

Other Evidence:

• Comparative economic systems chart
• Case study analyses of economic transitions
• Data interpretation exercises
• Position papers on economic controversies
• Reflection journal on personal economic values

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Week 1: Economic Fundamentals

• Entry scenario: Resource allocation simulation
• Direct instruction on economic system types
• Jigsaw activity on historical economic systems
• Analysis of current economic systems across nations

Week 2: Markets and Command

• Market simulation activities
• Command economy role-play
• Comparative advantage analysis
• Case studies of economic transitions
• Debate: Market vs. command approaches

Week 3: Evaluation and Application

• Introduction of performance task
• Research on developing economies
• Economic indicator analysis
• Policy design workshops
• Peer consultation sessions

Week 4: Synthesis and Presentation

• Economic proposal development
• Data visualization creation
• Presentation preparation
• Panel presentations with Q&A
• Reflection on learning and values

Cross-Curricular Example: Middle School Integrated Unit

Stage 1: Desired Results

Enduring Understandings:

• Human migration patterns are shaped by both push factors (forces driving people from locations) and pull factors (forces attracting people to new locations).
• Migration creates complex cultural, economic, and social changes in both sending and receiving communities.

Essential Questions:

• What causes people to leave their homes and move to new places?
• How do migration movements transform both migrants and the communities they join?

Knowledge:

• Historical and contemporary migration patterns
• Environmental, economic, political, and social factors in migration
• Basic demographic concepts
• Cultural diffusion and adaptation processes

Skills:

• Analyzing multiple causation in historical events
• Interpreting demographic data and maps
• Conducting and analyzing interviews
• Writing narrative and explanatory texts
• Creating digital presentations

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Task:
Students will research a specific migration movement (historical or contemporary) and create a multimedia presentation that includes:

• A data-based analysis of causes and effects
• GIS mapping of the movement
• Personal narratives representing migrant experiences
• Analysis of cultural, economic, and social impacts

Other Evidence:

• Comparative push-pull factor charts
• Population data analysis exercises
• Primary source document analysis
• Interview protocol design and implementation
• Reflective writing on personal or family migration histories

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Week 1: Understanding Migration (Social Studies Focus)

• Entry activity: Migration stories from news and history
• Analysis of historical migration patterns
• Demographic concept introduction
• Push-pull factor identification activities
• Case study: Historical migration movement

Week 2: Human Experiences (Language Arts Focus)

• Migration literature study
• Narrative writing techniques
• Interview skills development
• Oral history collection (community members)
• Narrative analysis and creation

Week 3: Data and Representation (Math/Geography Focus)

• Population data analysis
• GIS mapping introduction
• Statistical representation choices
• Visual data presentation techniques
• Creating migration maps

Week 4: Synthesis and Creation (Technology Integration)

• Multimedia presentation design
• Digital storytelling techniques
• Project workshop sessions
• Presentation delivery
• Gallery walk and peer evaluation
• Reflection on interdisciplinary connections

Part VI: Common Challenges and Solutions

Time Management in Backward Design

The comprehensive nature of Backward Design can initially seem time-intensive. Effective time management strategies include:

1. Start Small: Begin with a single unit rather than redesigning an entire curriculum
2. Collaborate: Share planning responsibilities within teaching teams
3. Create Templates: Develop reusable planning formats for efficiency
4. Build a Resource Bank: Collect and organize tasks and assessments for future use
5. Prioritize Depth: Focus on quality of understanding rather than quantity of content
6. Anticipate Iteration: Recognize that units will improve over multiple implementations

Many educators find that while initial planning requires significant investment, subsequent planning becomes more efficient, and instructional time becomes more productive.

Balancing Content Coverage with Deep Understanding

The tension between content coverage and depth remains a persistent challenge. Strategies to address this include:

1. Prioritize Content: Use the three-level framework (enduring, important, familiar) to make deliberate decisions
2. Identify Power Standards: Focus on standards with greatest leverage for future learning
3. Cluster Related Standards: Address multiple standards through integrated experiences
4. Emphasize Transfer: Design learning that applies to multiple contexts
5. Accelerate Routine Learning: Use efficient approaches for factual knowledge
6. Reserve Time for Depth: Protect time for complex performance tasks

The guiding principle should be “learning for understanding” rather than “covering content”—quality of understanding ultimately matters more than quantity of exposure.

Aligning Backward Design with Standardized Assessments

When high-stakes testing creates pressure for test preparation, educators can:

1. Analyze Test Demands: Identify the understanding and transfer requirements within standardized assessments
2. Design Authentic Tasks That Incorporate Test Skills: Create performance tasks that develop transferable skills required by tests
3. Teach for Transfer: Focus on applying knowledge in varied contexts rather than test-specific formats
4. Use Formative Assessment Strategically: Identify and address gaps in test-required skills
5. Maintain Focus on Enduring Understanding: Remember that genuine understanding supports test performance better than narrow test preparation

Research consistently shows that teaching for understanding yields better long-term results—including on standardized measures—than teaching to the test.

Supporting Colleagues in Adopting Backward Design

Instructional leaders can support Backward Design implementation through:

1. Professional Learning Communities: Establish collaborative teams focused on Backward Design
2. Exemplar Sharing: Provide successful unit examples across disciplines
3. Gradual Implementation: Encourage incremental adoption starting with single units
4. Peer Coaching: Develop mentor relationships between experienced and new practitioners
5. Protocol Development: Create structured processes for unit review and refinement
6. Resource Allocation: Provide dedicated planning time and material support

Cultural change requires both patience and persistence, with recognition that pedagogical shifts happen gradually rather than overnight.

Part VII: Tools and Templates

Stage 1 Planning Templates

Enduring Understandings Development Tool

Draft Understanding	Enduring?	Important to Discipline?	Requires Uncoverage?	Revised Understanding

Essential Question Quality Checklist

• [ ] Open-ended without a single correct answer
• [ ] Thought-provoking and intellectually engaging
• [ ] Higher-order requiring analysis, evaluation, or synthesis
• [ ] Raises additional important questions
• [ ] Requires support and justification
• [ ] Recurs naturally within and across units
• [ ] Connects to enduring understandings

Knowledge and Skills Organizer

Students will know…	Students will be able to…

Stage 2 Assessment Planning Tools

GRASPS Performance Task Design Frame

• Goal:
• Role:
• Audience:
• Situation:
• Product/Performance:
• Standards:

Assessment Plan Organizer

Assessment Type	What it Assesses	When Administered	How Used

Rubric Development Template

Criteria	Exemplary	Proficient	Developing	Beginning

Stage 3 Instructional Planning Tools

Learning Experience Sequence Planner

Day	Learning Target	Activities	Resources	Formative Assessment

Differentiation Planning Matrix

Student Needs	Content Adjustments	Process Modifications	Product Options	Environmental Supports

Resource Evaluation Checklist

• [ ] Directly supports identified enduring understandings
• [ ] Addresses specific knowledge and skill requirements
• [ ] Appropriate for student readiness levels
• [ ] Engaging and motivating for target students
• [ ] Accurate and current information
• [ ] Represents diverse perspectives
• [ ] Available in sufficient quantity/quality

Conclusion

Backward Design represents a fundamental shift in how educators approach instructional planning—from activity-focused to outcome-driven, from coverage-oriented to understanding-centered, and from teaching as presenting to teaching as facilitating understanding. By beginning with clear learning goals, designing aligned assessments, and then planning targeted learning experiences, educators create more coherent, effective learning environments.

The framework offers benefits at multiple levels:

• For Students: More purposeful, meaningful learning experiences that develop transferable understanding
• For Teachers: Greater clarity, intentionality, and satisfaction in instructional design
• For Schools: Enhanced curricular coherence and improved assessment practices
• For Educational Systems: Better alignment between standards, instruction, and assessment

While implementing Backward Design requires investment of time and thought, the returns in student learning and teacher effectiveness make it well worth the effort. As Grant Wiggins noted, “In the end, teaching is about one thing: ensuring that students leave each day’s class, and ultimately the course, having learned something important that they didn’t know before and that will serve them well in the future.”

This handbook provides a starting point for that journey—a framework for planning that keeps the focus where it belongs: on student understanding.

References and Further Reading

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Childre, A., Sands, J. R., & Pope, S. T. (2009). Backward design: Targeting depth of understanding for all learners. Teaching Exceptional Children, 41(5), 6-14.

McTighe, J., & Thomas, R. S. (2003). Backward design for forward action. Educational Leadership, 60(5), 52-55.

Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by design: Overview of UbD & the design template. Retrieved from http://www.grantwiggins.org/documents/UbDQuikvue1005.pdf

Graff, N. (2011). “An effective and agonizing way to learn”: Backwards design and new teachers’ preparation for planning curriculum. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(3), 151-168.

Daugherty, K. K. (2006). Backward course design: Making the end the beginning. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 70(6), 135.

McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2012). Understanding by design framework. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.