7.++Differentiated+Assessment


 * Differentiate Assessment**

Both formative and summative assessments may be differentiated to meet the diverse needs of students. When we differentiate instruction we are also differentiating assessment. Differentiation involves using a variety of instructional and assessment strategies that address diverse student learning needs. This means that anything a student does, says or creates is evidence of learning (Cooper, 2007; Hume, 2008). Balance assessment must “include oral, performance, and written tasks, and be flexible in order to improve learning for all students” (Cooper, 2007, p. 8).

A variety of strategies may be implemented to check for understanding and these strategies may vary from student to student. Teachers will often indicate that students have proven repeatedly to have achieved an acceptable standard on a target learning outcome but they are not able to do well on a final test. Traditionally we have felt that our hands were tied and that we were not able to make exceptions for the student because the final test was the indicator of success or failure. Implementing a differentiated assessment approach gives us permission to do what makes sense and to acknowledge that students may provide a variety of evidence of their learning.