Plan complete backward-design units in minutes. The free AssessmentWiz Unit Planner drafts UbD, IB PYP, IB MYP, or IB DP desired results, a summative anchor, a lesson sequence, and formative evidence — then exports a polished DOCX unit planner.
Most teachers plan units the way the calendar demands: pick the activities, order the lessons, then figure out the test at the end. Backward design flips that. You start from what students should understand, decide what evidence would prove it, and only then plan the learning. It produces dramatically more coherent units — and it takes hours of template-wrangling to do well.
Today we're launching the AssessmentWiz Unit Planner: a free AI-powered workspace that walks you through backward design step by step. Choose the classic Understanding by Design (UbD) format or one of the three IB planner formats — Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP), or Diploma Programme (DP). The planner drafts your unit stage by stage and hands you a polished DOCX planner at the end.
> Updated August 2026: The Unit Planner now covers the full IB K–12 arc — the original launch shipped with UbD and MYP; PYP and DP layouts and prompts followed in the K–12 IB release.
Backward design, formalized by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in Understanding by Design, plans a unit in three stages: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, and plan learning experiences. The order is the point. When you name the enduring understandings and essential questions first, every assessment and activity that follows has something to align to. When you plan activities first, alignment becomes an afterthought — the familiar "fun unit, but what did they actually learn?" problem.
The three IB programmes build on the same logic with their own vocabulary. PYP (K–5) frames a unit around a transdisciplinary theme, a central idea, and lines of inquiry, with key concepts and learner profile attributes woven through. MYP (6–10) uses a key concept and related concepts, a global context, a statement of inquiry, and factual/conceptual/debatable inquiry questions — with summatives designed against MYP criteria. DP (11–12) is subject-anchored: subject and level (SL/HL), syllabus topics, aims, assessment objectives (AO1–AO4), TOK links, and international-mindedness — all decided before assessments and lessons are planned.
Backward design is conceptually simple and practically slow. A single UbD or MYP planner asks you to fill a dozen interdependent boxes — goals, transfer goals, understandings, essential questions, knowledge, skills — while cross-referencing standards documents, curriculum guides, and last year's materials. The blank template is the hard part: getting from "I'm teaching ecosystems in September" to a defensible set of desired results is where most planning sessions stall.
The Unit Planner turns that blank template into a guided flow — a brainstorm, then four stages, with an approval gate between each: the AI drafts, you review, refine, and approve before anything moves forward. You stay the designer; the AI does the assembly.
Pick your template — regular UbD, or IB PYP, MYP, or DP — then talk through the unit in a built-in brainstorm chat. The template picker uses your grade to default to the right IB programme (K–5 → PYP, 6–10 → MYP, 11–12 → DP), and you can override for schools that stretch programme boundaries. Not sure of your big ideas yet? Think out loud with the AI and it extracts usable seeds (topic, standards, big ideas, essential questions, prior knowledge) straight into the planning form. You can also upload curriculum documents — a PDF pacing guide, a DOCX scope-and-sequence — and the planner reads them as source material. Every seed field has an "Improve with AI" button if you want a rough note sharpened into planner-ready language.
From your seeds, the planner drafts a complete Stage 1 in the shape your template expects. UbD mode drafts established goals, transfer goals, understandings, essential questions, and the knowledge and skills students will take away. PYP mode drafts the transdisciplinary theme, a central idea, lines of inquiry, key concepts, related concepts, learner profile attributes, ATL skills, and an "action" statement. MYP mode drafts the conceptual core — key concept, related concepts, and global context — plus a statement of inquiry, factual/conceptual/debatable inquiry questions, objectives mapped to MYP criteria and strands, ATL skills, and content. DP mode drafts the subject and level, syllabus topics, aims, assessment objectives (AO1–AO4), ATL skills, TOK links, international-mindedness, IA alignment, and CAS opportunities.
Nothing is locked in. Type feedback in plain language — "make the essential questions more debatable," "swap the second understanding for something about interdependence" — and the planner revises the draft. When Stage 1 says what you mean, approve it and move on. That approval gate matters: Stage 2 is only as good as the desired results it aligns to.
Backward design says the summative comes before the lessons — so that's exactly what Stage 2 asks. From your approved desired results, the planner proposes three candidate summative assessments, each with a recommended assessment type, a brief, and the goals or MYP criteria it targets. Pick the one that fits your classroom — or write your own — and lock it in. That single summative anchor is what the rest of the unit builds toward.
With the summative locked, the planner drafts a lesson sequence sized to your unit's duration. Each lesson carries a title, a learning objective, suggested activities, and prior-knowledge hooks — and names the understandings and essential questions it advances, so the thread back to Stage 1 stays visible. Edit any lesson inline, add or remove lessons, and approve the arc when it reads like your classroom.
Finally, the planner suggests formative checkpoints anchored to specific lessons — an exit ticket after Lesson 3, a mid-unit quiz after Lesson 5, an IB criterion task where it fits. Accept the suggestions, edit them, or add your own. Because AssessmentWiz already generates exit tickets, quizzes, formative checks, tests, and project-based assessments, each evidence brief is one click from a finished assessment: the matching generator opens pre-loaded with your unit's context, and the result links back to the unit when you save it.
The alignment problem — "does this quiz actually assess the essential questions?" — is handled structurally. Every assessment is generated from the desired results and the lesson it follows, not bolted on afterward.
When you're done, export the unit as a DOCX laid out in the official planner format — the familiar UbD stage boxes, the IB PYP unit of inquiry, the IB MYP unit planner, or the IB DP subject planner — ready for a coordinator, a PLC binder, or your own records. Your units also live in a personal unit library, so you can revisit, refine, and reuse them next year.
The Unit Planner is live now for every AssessmentWiz account, free during early access, with full IB K–12 coverage. Sign in, pick UbD or one of the three IB programmes (PYP, MYP, DP), and plan your first unit — from desired results to summative, lessons, and formative evidence. Year-at-a-glance unit mapping is next on the roadmap.
Backward design plans a unit in three stages: identify desired results (understandings, essential questions, goals), determine acceptable evidence (assessments), and plan learning experiences. Starting from the end ensures every assessment and activity aligns to what students should actually learn.
UbD drafts established goals, transfer goals, understandings, essential questions, knowledge, and skills. IB PYP drafts a transdisciplinary theme, central idea, lines of inquiry, key concepts, learner profile attributes, ATL skills, and an action statement. IB MYP drafts a key concept, related concepts, global context, statement of inquiry, factual/conceptual/debatable inquiry questions, objectives mapped to MYP criteria, ATL skills, and content. IB DP is subject-anchored — subject, level (SL/HL), syllabus topics, aims, assessment objectives (AO1–AO4), ATL, TOK links, international-mindedness, and IA alignment. Pick the one matching your school's planning format; the tool defaults from your grade (K–5 → PYP, 6–10 → MYP, 11–12 → DP) and you can override.
Yes — the Unit Planner is free during early access, like the rest of AssessmentWiz. You need a free account so your units can be saved to your unit library.
Yes. Upload PDF or DOCX curriculum materials — pacing guides, scope-and-sequence documents, standards excerpts — and the planner uses them as source material when drafting your unit.
Yes. Stage 2 proposes candidate summative assessments, and Stage 4 places formative evidence briefs on specific lessons. Each brief opens the matching AssessmentWiz generator pre-loaded with your unit context, and generated assessments link back to the unit.
Yes — Stage 3 drafts a lesson sequence sized to your unit's duration, with a learning objective, activities, and prior-knowledge hooks for each lesson, all building toward the summative you chose in Stage 2. You can edit, add, or remove lessons before approving.
Yes — export a DOCX laid out in the official planner format for your template: UbD stage boxes, the IB PYP unit-of-inquiry layout, the IB MYP unit planner, or the IB DP subject planner. Ready to share with a coordinator or keep in your planning binder.