Innovative Differentiation

We have a saying at our school, we can get them to do anything if they think they are "watching tv" or playing a game. This makes tech resources wonderful for differentiation, and especially assessment.

I created a basic game as a pre-assessment for students. 

Give it a try and play to test your knowledge!

Here's the quizlet: https://quizlet.com/_2bipfd

How'd you do?

Imagine if you fell into one of three categories

  

As your teacher what can I do to help accommodate your learning best through Differentiation and Assessment??

The first word that comes to mind is "Collaboration"

Using my ability to instruct and create a learning environment that is differentiated appropriately based on the pre- assessment to produce the best possible learning outcomes for students regardless of which "group" they are in.

The most innovative classrooms, and in my opinion, the best classrooms are where the students do more talking than the teacher. Using the students with stronger foundational knowledge in the subject matter to pair up and work together AND with the students who are at a lower level. The trick here is balance because the students who already know about the topic need to be challenged so that they truly are learning. It's a delicate balance and it takes a lot of work but as educators I believe it is our job to serve our students the best way we can. This is much more effort and prep than standing in front of the class and giving direct instruction and worksheets. However, the learning outcomes are far more authentic.

The teacher needs to be the facilitator, and know where the direct instruction has its time and place, setting students up to learn, explore and collaborate.

So the next question is how do we differentiate for these varied results on the pretest? 

Group 1 is likely to be able to need the most support, Group 2 is likely able to follow the content, and group 3, is similar to group 2, but will be pushed to take their learning to the next level with projects and/or activities designed for higher order thinking. 

Assessments: 

Group 1: To monitor their progress they will need the most formative assessment. It can be informal, but especially with language learners of students with special needs (if that is the case), the teacher will likely need to differentiate activities and use a variety of methods including visuals. 

Group 2: Assessments will be formative, and can also be done as peer assessment. They are likely to be able to work more independently, or be partnered with students form group 1. 

Group 3: Group 3 will need to be challenged, offering assessments that promote higher order thinking skills such as short answers, or assessments designed to apply their base knowledge and take it one step further. 

In the end, it depends on your students, the dynamic of your classroom community, and how well you know your students. Pre- assessment is an extremely useful tool for differentiation and knowing which assessments to use for ensuring the strongest learning outcomes. Meeting learners where they are at is a top priority! 

High Stakes Testing

We are at a pivotal moment in education where best practices are being questioned and organizations such as "About PARCC" and "Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium" are advocating to change the way testing is administered for our students in the American system. Standardized testing exists in the International School world as well, but it is less often “high-stakes” and more a form of “external testing.” Since I was a child I have struggled with tests. I have high test anxiety and I am, “not a good test taker.” As a teacher and as a student I advocate for the viewpoint that a standardized test or in many cases a very high number of standardized tests, are a snapshot of one student, on one day, from one point of view. This is a data point to consider but it must be considered along with the entire spectrum of that student’s capabilities and high stakes testing just doesn’t reflect that. 

One common argument for high stakes testing is that other countries throughout the world do it, and the US continues to rank lower than them, so we should do it too. Take for example statistics from 2012, according to The National Center for Education Statistics, in Math the US ranked 29th against other developed countries in the world. The argument is to push harder, drive students and use it as a tool for motivation, but the reality is this just isn’t working. NCLB is a thing of the past and in order to move forward we need to change the way we assess our youth and find ways to test that include intrinsic motivation, authentic learning, and allow for the entire picture of the learner to identify their strengths and weaknesses because high stakes testing punishes them for these.

So what’s the answer, where do we go from here? Some movements are suggesting changing assessments to measures. Best practices would change to measuring skills, social emotional surveys, creating state-wide data systems, using portfolio systems. As educators we have to ask ourselves, what’s easier, handing out the test the state sent us and proctoring it or putting in the time and effort to survey, collect data and create portfolios? The answer is clearly the former, but what is best for our children? The pressure being put on kids to perform is unbelievable even compared to when I was in school. The fact is we still put high stakes testing back onto our own teachers! Is this really a measure of how great a teacher they will be???

I understand testing has it’s place. It’s a measure, a data point. When it’s used this way I have no problem with it. Putting kids through rigorous high- stakes testing is doing them a disservice and can have negative impacts on their self-esteem, motivation and confidence in their learning abilities. It’s time we take a long hard look at where we’ve been and make a clear decision for where we are going. I stand firm that a comprehensive system is far more beneficial for students than high stakes-testing ever has been. 

Citations: 

The secret to comparing schools based on test scores [Video file]. (2013, February 5). Retrieved June 1, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhRHnXZGG3M

What is Smarter Balanced? (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2016, from http://www.smarterbalanced.org/about/

WORKING TOGETHER TO CREATE A MODERN ASSESSMENT. (2016). Retrieved June 1, 2016, from http://www.parcconline.org/about

International comparisons of achievement. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2016, from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1