What is
Differentiated Assessment?
Differentiated Assessment is
best described as selecting tools and strategies that will maximize success for every individual (Growing Success, 2010). This type of
assessment supports the learning process by helping teachers identify and
address student strengths and needs (Alberta Education, 2015). It is ongoing and
responsive, changing over the course of a unit depending on the student’s
growth and development (Alberta Education, 2015).
Making a Connection!
Differentiated assessment informs differentiated instruction
Differentiated assessment provides information about each student's readiness, strengths and needs in relation to particular outcomes or activities. This information shapes your planning (Chapman & King, 2012).
Differentiated instruction leads to differentiated assessment
In a differentiated classroom, students work towards learning outcomes at different paces and in different ways. As a result, you need assessment tools and strategies that accommodate diversity while still usefully measuring learning outcomes (Chapman & King, 2012).
(Alberta Education, 2015)
The Question is...How Can we Move Toward Differentiated Assessment?
Although differentiated assessment is a unique form of assessment, it is obvious that student's needs cannot always be met in the same way. Successfully meeting students needs
involves understanding each student and guiding them with the proper assessment
tools and strategies. The goal is not to have an individualized assessment plan
for each student, but to have a range of assessment plans to accommodate for
all the student needs (Alberta Education, 2015). Below I will offer some ways that a teacher can begin implementing differentiated assessment in their classroom!
Supporting students with learning difficulties: A student with a learning disability has a goal in his/his
individualized program plan (IPP) that points towards the use of particular
assessment tools and strategies. A teacher could use this assessment plan for
students who have similar learning needs even though they have not diagnosed
with a learning disability.
Rethinking grading practices: A teacher that uses a
one-size-fits-all approach needs to rethink their grading and reporting
practice. It would be more beneficial to redesign his/her grading and reporting
practices to allow for some student choice to provide them with the
opportunity to better their performance.
Facilitating metacognition: Provide students with the opportunity to develop the ability to diagnose
their own learning needs and to assess their progress towards learning goals.
It would be beneficial to teach goal setting, choice, self-assessment and
reflection.
Benefits of Differentiated Assessment
(Chapman & King, 2012)
Let's Look at My Personal Experience...
In my third
year placement the teacher used adjusting questions as a differentiated
assessment strategy. When the students were in a large discussion group, the
teacher was directing the higher level questions to the appropriate students
and asked more suitable questions for those students with greater needs. This
allowed students to answer important questions that required them to think
based on their specific readiness level. In addition to this, the teacher
assigned specific questions to groups based on their level. I thought this was
an appropriate example of differentiated assessment because it gave the students the
best opportunity to demonstrate their learning.
We All Love Videos!
I will leave you with two videos to recap and summarize what I discussed in this blog post. Thanks for reading! Use differentiated assessment in your classroom so you can see all your students succeed! Remember....ONE SIZE DOESN'T FIT ALL !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcpzRJMUiX0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPl8OSCX_f8
References
Alberta Education. (2015). Differentiated assessment. Making a Difference. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/1233985/7_ch4%20differentiated.pdf
Chapman, C., & King, R. (2012). Differentiated assessment strategies. One Tool Doesn't Fit All. California, Thousand Island: A SAGE Company.
Growing Success. (2010). Resources for particular policy and program areas. Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools. Retrieved from Sakai.
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Great job Melanie! I think the idea of relating the assessment to the instruction was very insightful. These two aspects go together, so it is understandable why you mentioned it. You are missing some references, and I would have liked to see more scholarly opinions added to the post. Your choice in media really did help explaining the big idea. You mentioned that differentiated assessment help students with learning disabilities, but do you think it is more for them or for everyone in the classroom? I appreciate the story you told about you placement teacher, as it related to real-life settings and how the assessment is implemented. Overall I am pleased with the efforts you put into the blog, and I hope to see more insights!
ReplyDeleteKiren,
DeleteI think differentiated assessment can be used for everyone in the classroom. The mention of helping students with learning disabilities was more just suggesting how an IPP can benefit students without a learning disability as well. If you are supporting students with a learning disability by using differentiated assessment, then you can also use the assessment plan for students with similar learning needs even though they have not been diagnosed with a learning disability. Hope this clarifies for you!
I like how you explicitly stated how differentiated instruction and differentiated assessment are connected; I also enjoy the visual for this, I believe it is well placed and relevant. I like how you added a section of how we can move towards differentiated assessment, it is helpful to me as a future teacher!! I also really liked the benefits picture you found online, it is very interesting. Interesting videos, I enjoyed them! Regarding your personal experience, do you believe the students realized how the teacher was modifying the questions based on their readiness level? Could this create issues if the students realize they are being questioned differently? Great blog overall!! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteJenn,
DeleteI like the point you brought up about students realizing how the teacher was modifying the questions based on their readiness level. In this particular situation, it did not seem like the students were aware that the teacher was modifying the questions based on their level because she also asked general questions to the groups as a whole. However, with this being said, I do think that students could realize in certain situations, which in turn could lead to issues, such as bullying. It could lead to the potential of students at a higher level could making fun of the students with a lower readiness level. Furthermore, I think if students at a higher level of readiness make this connection, they could start acting like they are to superior for the work they are to be completing. In conclusion, I think if teachers are to use adjusting questions as a differentiated assessment strategy then they would have to approach it in an appropriate way to limit these realizations from the students. I think the teacher in my placement class was successful in this since she used general questions for everyone throughout the discussion.
Yo Mel! Sweet job in relating the instructional and assessment aspects of personalized and differentiated learning together. I really thought it was a great read and your videos were very relative to the topic as well. I think that you will be a great future educator if you implement these teaching tactics in your classroom and I believe that other educators should understand the importance of connecting the assessment and instructional aspects together so that their students can prosper to their fullest potential. Although more and more future educators are learning about the transition and importance of personalized and differentiated assessment, do you think it would benefit students to teach them how it works too? Just a little question left there for ya. Thanks for the read and great job! :)
ReplyDeleteHey mel! There is a lot of good parts to this blog, i really enjoyed your making connections portion and how you showed that differentiated assessment is a positive cycle. I also really enjoyed the part talking about how the differentiated assessment is not only helpful in cognitive success but can enhance there affective and emotional state as well. Another aspect to your blog that was crucial is how you expressed ways to implement differentiated assessment. Everyone has opinions on differentiated assessment but knowing how to implement it is just as important. Lastly i enjoyed that your personal experience was a positive experience not a negative examples like most others ive read. One thing i would suggest is to make the blog a bit more personal and add some of your opinions of your interpretation of the assessment as how you feel about its importance and effectiveness. Other than that good job!!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Mel! It was very effective how you began by explaining the connection between differentiated instruction and differentiated assessment, although this may seem like an obvious correlation many teachers don’t utilize them both together. The various examples you gave to conduct differentiated assessment helps the reader understand how to bring this theory into practice, which many teachers struggle with. I think your blog does a great job of presenting the main aspects of the topic. To bring more depth to your blog think about presenting some potential issues that could occur with differentiated assessment and how they can be counteracted.
ReplyDelete