Making a Difference

Part 1—Making a Difference
|
Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated instruction
61
consider what can motivate or, sometimes more importantly, impair 
• 
motivation for learning; facilitate motivation to learn by supporting 
students in assuming responsibility for their own growth, ensuring tasks 
are clear and aligned with learning outcomes, and providing ongoing 
feedback and appropriate learning opportunities that are interesting, 
relevant and suitable for students’ readiness and abilities.
Although assessment 
of
learning focuses exclusively on student achievement 
relative to grade or course level expectations, your reporting also can include 
important information about students’ work habits, progress during the course, 
strengths and needs, attitudes, the way they learn best, and/or suggestions for 
how they can improve their achievement. These aspects should not be combined 
or averaged into a score, but rather reported as separate, important elements. 
Consider strategies for reporting these aspects such as separate comments, 
attachments to the report card, separate communications, checklists or student-
parent-teacher conferences. 
Managing differentiated assessment
C
onsider the following tips to help you make meaningful, manageable 
decisions about how to differentiate assessment.
Be realistic. 
• 
Assessing differentiated content, process or product places 
demands on you as the teacher. In general, content differentiation tends to 
put the highest demand on teachers’ understanding of the subject matter. 
Process differentiation tends to put the highest demand on teachers’ 
classroom management skills. Product differentiation tends to put the 
most demand on teachers’ planning skills because they will need to have 
choices laid out, materials available and general rubrics ready.