25 quick formative assessments for a differentiated classroom pdf

Discussion 1 Classroom Assessment

Tomlinson (2001) described differentiated assessment as an ongoing process through which teachers gather data before, during, and after instruction from multiple sources to identify learners’ needs and strengths. In a quality class that is built on the foundation of differentiation, the teacher will infuse a constant stream of assessments (before, during, and after) to help identify student’s needs and to help improve learning. Use the information in your text and from the following websites and video to explore definitions, explanations and examples of pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments.

· 25 quick formative assessments for a differentiated classroom .

· What is Differentiated Assessment? (Links to an external site.)

Instructions After viewing the resources:

· Explain the role of assessment as it applies to theoretical foundations of differentiated instruction.

· Describe how assessment can be created that evaluates a student’s true knowledge without bias towards language barriers, learning differences, or cultural differences.

· Choose one differentiated assessment strategy (either pre, formative, or summative) from the course text (or from the recommended websites or video) and present a rationale for using the assessment to meet the needs of diverse learners and how it will be used to drive future instruction.

Instructor Guidance

Week 5

Introduction

This week you will:

1. Explain how assessment drives current and future differentiated instruction.

2. Evaluate formal and informal assessment tools in collecting data for student’s readiness, interest, and learning profile as a guideline for differentiating instruction.

3. Create effective formative and summative assessments that are based on differentiated learning principles.

This week you will evaluate and create pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments that incorporate differentiated instructional theory.

We will leave behind the old idea that assessment is a system to mete out rewards and punishments and move to an understanding that they are instead used as an effective classroom tool to improve student and teacher performance.

Discussion Board

Think about when you were in school and you heard the world “TEST” – what do you think of? Pencil and paper? Textbooks? Scantron forms? Were you a successful test-taker? How much did you study? Did you study for hours and still fail? Now imagine if you could have designed your own test in class; what would it look like? How would it be designed? Now is your chance to make that change! One of the key principles of differentiation is providing students with authentic experiences that evaluate their lesson objective and standard mastery without the possible negative impact of language barriers, learning style, disability, or other influencing factors. Luckily this isn’t as difficult as it sounds! Take some time to view the discussion by Reeves (2011) that provides the basic guiding principles, getting started, and examples. In addition, during each class period you will want to make sure all your students are on the same page, following along with the instruction and ready to meet the lesson objective. Just asking “Does anyone have any questions” isn’t enough anymore. When you were in school and didn’t understand something, were you willing to stand out? Beginning with a pre-assessment helps you determine student’s readiness, or where they are starting. Check out what Forest Lake Elementary school is doing (Edutopia, 2014) about providing some great pre-assessment strategies that will get students excited to learn, engage them in the learning process, and evaluate their level of readiness.

Assignment

Watch this short video (Hoffman, 2013) about some of the differences between formative and summative assessments to refresh your thinking about the assignment for the week. Using both formative and summative assessment to drive instruction is an essential part of curriculum development as you gauge student’s level of readiness and standard mastery. Formative assessments are typically used as a quick ‘check in’ to see how students are doing and their level of comprehension on a specific task during a lesson. One very helpful webpage designed for differentiated instruction is “25 Quick Formative Assessments (Links to an external site.)” (Dodge, 2009) as it provides examples for all subjects and grade levels. You can browse through and use what is provided or personalize it with your own ideas. They can also be used at the conclusion of a daily lesson with a quick 5-minute activity, often called an “exit ticket.” A summative assessment on the other hand is at the end of a unit or weekly lesson and assigned a grade that evaluates mastery. A summative assessment can be completed individually or in a group over one or several class periods including projects, essays, presentations, video recordings, or demonstrations.

References

Dodge, J. (2009). 25 quick formative assessments for a differentiated classroom . Retrieved from http://store.scholastic.com/content/stores/media/products/samples/21/9780545087421.pdf Edutopia (2014). Use formative assessment to differentiate instruction (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-learning-styles-video Hoffman, M. (2013, October 30). Formative vs. summative assessments (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmM1iN-m-E Reeves, D. (2011). From differentiated instruction to differentiated assessment (Links to an external site.). ASCDExpress, 6(20). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/620-reeves.aspx

Required Resources

Required Text

Puckett, K (2013). Differentiating Instruction: A Practical Guide [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

· Chapter 6: Assessment

Articles

Chapman, C., & King, R. (n.d.). Differentiated strategies for assessment (Links to an external site.) . (Links to an external site.) Retrieved from http://celi.olemiss.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/03/Differentiated-Assessment-Strategies-Preassessment-Formative-Summative-and-Digital.pdf

Dodge, J. (2009). 25 quick formative assessments for a differentiated classroom. Retrieved from http://store.scholastic.com/content/stores/media/products/samples/21/9780545087421.pdf

Multimedia

Casey Koschmeder. (2012, June 23). What is Differentiated Assessment? (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvzRcArujOU

videocourse4teachers (2012, April 2). Differentiated Assessment Strategies: Identifying Learners Strengths and Needs. (Links to an external site.)[Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnCO9eM2D1Y

Recommended Resources

Articles

Brighton, C. (2009). Pre-assessment in the differentiated classroom Preview the document. Retrieved from http://www.diffcentral.com/examples/brighton_preassess.pdf

Multimedia

LEARN NC (2012, March 13). "Who cares" in action: Formative and summative assessment. (Links to an external site.)[Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBrzQJOM1Ug