mixitupdifferentiation

Assessment

Some of the questions that arise about assessment practices in a differentiated classroom include:

How do I determine the types of assessments that are appropriate for my students?
What is pre-assessment and when do I use it?
What is formative assessment, and when do I use it?
What is summative assessment, and when do I use it?
What are good assessment practices in a differentiated classroom?
What is my role in assessment practices beyond creating and giving them?

Hopefully you'll get some answers to these questions below. However, a great print resource on assessment is Rick Wormeli's Fair Isn't Alway Equal book (see "Resources" page for more information.)

1. First and foremost, there are just sound assessment practices that need to be implemented whether you are differentiating or not. Assessments are based on that first question in instructional design: what do you want students to know and be able to do? If you want students to list, define or label, for example, then you'll probably select an assessment that requires them to do that - short answer or selected response. If you want students to explain, analyze or evaluate, then an essay or extended response would be in order. For a student objective that has them creating, developing or some type of synthesis, a performance assessment would be in order. A great resource is a 2004 text by Richard Stiggins, Judith Arter, Jan Chappuis and Steve Chappuis - book, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, published by the Educational Testing Service.

2. Pre-assessments are those that are used to determine where students are in terms of readiness. If you plan to use tiering or curriculum compacting as a strategy, for example, you would pre-assess students on their mastery of the content before you begin. Why should a student sit in class listening to the fraction basics of part to whole when they can add and subtract mixed numbers? Some resources for pre-assessment include:

3. In a differentiated classroom, formative assessment is the norm. These are checks along the way during the unit to determine whether or not a student is on track to achieving/mastering the objectives set for him/her. It could be class discussion, a graphic organizer or homework assignments. Whatever those checks are, written or verbal feedback to help the students make any necessary revisions is crucial. One major point to remember is that students who are functioning at a higher level aren't assigned more problems or tasks, but rather problems or tasks at a higher level of sophistication. A good article from the National Middle School Association about formative assessment can be found at: http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/WebExclusive/Assessment/tabid/1120/Default.aspx.

4. Summative assessments occur only after a period of time where students have been involved in a variety of experiences to help them achieve/master the objectives. Here are two thoughts about summative assessments:

Give students choice about their assessments. If they're doing a performance, let have regularly have some input - a technology-based product, such as a Photostory or Powerpoint, an oral presentation, selecting their own graphic organizers, a written report. In other words, mixitup!
If students will be assessed at different levels of readiness, then some tiering is in order. Students, who are working at a higher level of sophistication for example, can be given choice, but their choices are more complex or abstract than other students. For example, perhaps fifth graders are working on multi-step word problems involving three digit multiplication. For students who are working above grade level, their assessment is to create four-step problems, where a student who is working on grade level creates three-step problems.
A teacher's role in a differentiated classroom is to: a) vary assessment practices and offer choice when possible, b) provide meaningful feedback to help students improve and c) utilize formative assessment to modify instruction as necessary.

One final word about assessment, whenever possible students should be involved in their own assessment - tracking their own progress, helping to develop rubrics and discussing their progress is important and shouldn't be shortchanged. The Classroom Assessment for Student Learning is a good resource for student involved assessment as well.