Differentiated Formative Assessment: An Example

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I learned that when creating assessment, differentiation must be considered. To know about the students' level of knowledge in academic areas for ELL students and the learning problems and content for IEP for special needs students, teachers should speak with the learning resource staff at their school, check student records for past history, and look at results of formative assessments.

Following is an example I submitted of a formative assessment and how differentiation can be applied for an ELL student and a special needs student:

Assessment Title: Venn Diagram

Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: English Language Acquisition

Skills or Content Knowledge: What information or ideas will be evaluated with this formative assessment? In other words, what data are you aiming to gather?

Starting a new unit on myths and fairytales in which Nordic mythology and fairytales from students’ cultural backgrounds will be explored. As an introduction to the unit, students will think about the language of comparisons and contrasts as well as organizing and sorting information and vocabulary. This way, I can be sure students understand the differences and similarities between the topics by accessing prior knowledge and analyzing text.

Assessment Description/Link: What activity or technology (app, tool, etc.) will students use to demonstrate their knowledge or skills? In other words, how will students provide data?

Venn Diagram Description: Working in pairs, students create a venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between myths and fairytales. Students write a title at the top of the graphic, Comparing and Contrasting Myths and Fairytales and label each circle, one Myth and the other Fairy Tales. Similarities between the two are identified in the area of the Venn diagram where both of the circles overlap. Differences are recorded in the areas of the Venn diagram where the circles do not overlap.

Students fill in the respective circles, first using their prior knowledge of myths and fairytales. Then, students are asked to read text from two sites shared with them and analyse it, using the information from it to complete their Venn diagram.

Then, the pairs, practice speaking by discussing their Venn diagrams using the following prompts:

Comparison: ___________________includes _____________, ______________, and ___________ and ___________________ includes _____________, ______________, and ___________ . An example includes _________________.


Contrast: _____________ includes _____________, ______________, and ___________ but ___________________ includes _____________, ______________, and ___________ . An example includes _________________.

If there is time at the end, we would conclude with students sharing their Venn diagrams.

Modifications & Adjustments: How will you administer this formative assessment in an online, hybrid, and physical learning environment? How will you make this accessible to students with language barriers and those with special needs?

Online / Online in the Classroom: Students are paired up, just as in the physical classroom, but in breakout rooms and create their Venn diagram using Canva, (click here for example), which is then shared with their classmates and teacher. Alternatively, the teacher can create a Venn diagram on Canva which is shared on the screen so that students can contribute to it using the annotation feature in the toolbar.

Another option for the Classroom: The Venn diagram can be created on the whiteboard by the teacher. The teacher gives out stickies to the paired students to write a couple of similarities and differences and then invites them up to the whiteboard to place their stickies. In this way, everyone is still involved.

Accessibility: The function of the Venn diagram, I think, inherently appeals to visual students, struggling students and ELLstudents because it helps to better show the components of concepts. It helps to break down text (the sites shared) into chunks that can be organized and easily understood. With their ideas organized, they are then better able to then express them verbally to the group.

The Venn diagram can be completed in the student’s first language as well as English.

Grouping can be heterogeneous so that the higher phase students model and help the lower phase students complete the diagram.

ELL students can use online translators.

The teacher provides scaffolding for the phase 1 students by sharing a list of vocabulary to place in the circles, for example, religious, cultural beliefs, views of tradition, factual information, true story, fantastical, good and evil, conflict.

Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?

During the Venn diagram activity, I would walk around and observe, listening to the students discuss myths and fairytales, using the prompts. And, be available for clarification.

During the sharing portion, I would elaborate on their ideas.

When finished, I would collect the Venn diagrams to further reflect on their responses to determine how to proceed. Knowing the differences will help them with the activities that lie ahead so I will focus my time looking at the outer circles of the diagram and use that to guide my determination for future groupings. I would also look out for the vocabulary I would like the students to know:

Myths are religious or cultural beliefs or views of tradition and may contain factual information in them.

Fairytales are stories which can be based around a true story that include something added to them that makes them so fantastical with good and evil and a conflict.

Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?

The Venn diagram is an activity that helps students pull on prior knowledge and move into new knowledge via analyzing text on their own to extract the information, supporting them to become more independent learners.

Graphic organizers like Venn diagrams are ideal as a basis for collaborative pair or group work, so that EAL learners are working and learning together. They also allow ELL students to practise the target language with peers. Through interaction and conversation, their learning of myths and fairytales, I think, will go deeper and be more meaningful for them.

Special Needs Student - Jack

Jack is an 11-year old boy who is in grade 6. He loves listening and composing music, playing video games and programming. He can be differently engaged, depending on how interested he is in the activity, the activity's difficulty, and the duration of the activity. The activities requiring independent work, long-term assignments, and extended reading cause frustration and misbehaviour (i.e. distracting peers, yelling out, being confrontational or he turns inwards, focusing on his doodles or sitting under the desk, sometimes he runs). Writing evokes similar behaviour. He states he “hates” writing and as a result does not take notes or complete homework/assessments thoroughly or legibly. It is difficult for him to follow multi-step instructions. When Jack deems his assignments "boring," he is more likely to disengage or do only the bare minimum. Jack shares that his mother expects him to get high grades and he often cries, acts out, and gets upset when he receives a low grade, worried about his mother’s reaction. Jack regards the learning process negatively. His low self-efficacy causes him to avoid tasks he thinks he is not good at or gives up quickly when a task is too difficult. He engages in negative self-talk, uttering statements like “I am stupid.” and “I cannot.” His behaviour often alienates other students who don’t want to work with him. I see how his inability to control his behaviour along with his low self-efficacy impacts his ability to make and retain friendships.

Half way through the school year he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Students with dyslexia have trouble reading at a good pace and without mistakes. Like Jack, students read below grade level, spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading, avoiding activities that involve reading, problems spelling, mispronouncing words or problems retrieving words, slow and labour-intensive reading. And like Jack, they often have challenges with spelling and writing - grammar, sentence structure and more in-depth writing - which explains Jack’s aversion to writing. As a student with ADHD, organization, planning, sustained effort, and self-monitoring are challenging for Jack. The two main factors that contribute most significantly to his performance and behaviour in class is his inability to focus and control his behaviour. Through his inability to control his behaviour, Jack devotes a lot of energy to disengage from academic tasks, affecting his achievement. It is common that students with ADHD also have some sort of academic learning disability.

IEP Recommendations

• Provide written material online whenever possible.
• Allow the student to use a text reader like a Reading Pen or text-to-speech soft-ware.
• Give him the choice to work on his own.
• He can use his computer to write all assignments.
• Provide 20% extended time to complete all assignments.
• Do not group him with students that trigger him.
• Allow understanding to be demonstrated in different ways, like oral reports, posters, and video presentations.
• Provide different ways to respond to test questions, like saying the answers or circling an answer instead of filling in the blank.
• Seat Jack at the front of the classroom for more engagement.
• Provide a quiet room for taking tests, if needed.
• Jack attends the after school writing program.
• Jack sees the school counsellor once a week.

Modifications and Accommodations to Assessment

In particular, the reading and writing components of the assessment will be modified using some of the suggestions listed below. The second part of the assessment, speaking and sharing, does not need to be modified.

• Provide a Venn diagram online so he can use his computer to complete the assessment.
• Even though a graphic organizer like a Venn diagram can help focus his mind, writing proves problematic so because he prefers the use of his computer to paper and pen, this will help engage him in the task.
• He can use speech-to-text software to help with writing in the Venn diagram.
• If using a paper copy, provide a bookmark or ruler to help focus on a line of text when reading.
• Making it easier to follow along, the strips/bookmarks offer him a strategy to complete readings which he may or may not take to.
• Use a text-to-speech software so Jack doesn’t have to “read” (provide headphones).
• Because reading is laborious for Jack, this might take away some of the anxiety around reading and engage him in the task and help him understand the material.
• The software can also be used to proof-read or check his own work.
• Provide him extra time to complete the assessment.
• This will allow him multiple opportunities to read or “read” the texts.
• Give him the option to work on his own instead of in pairs.
• If he chooses to work in pairs, pair him with a student of his choice to promote engagement.
• If he chooses to work in pairs, assign roles so that the partner writes and Jack speaks (stating where in the diagram to place the words) so that he is still able to do the work.
• Provide a list of vocabulary from each story for Jack to sort into the Venn diagram using arrows instead of writing the words out.
• Highlight key words and ideas on the two readings. 
• In this way, Jack can read them first and not be overwhelmed by the full texts.
• Check in frequently. 
• This will ensure that Jack is on task and understands the task.
• If writing out the Venn diagram doesn’t work, on the computer or by hand, allow Jack to demonstrate understanding orally or via video presentation.
• Reduce the vocabulary to only a few words in each section of the Venn diagram.
• By reducing the quantity of the task, Jack may be more motivated to complete it yet it still shows his understanding of the content.
• Simplify the text in the readings using a program such as https://www.simplish.org/. 
• In this way, the texts are more readable, and for Jack, a text that is shorter in length with simple sentences may promote better comprehension and motivate him to actually read it.
• The readings can be engineered so that they are more accessible without changing the words. 
• For example, create a lot more white space, create headings, and highlight vocabulary which all support Jack to engage with the reading if it doesn’t look like “too much”
• Score the assessment on the content (organizing and sorting information, vocabulary), not on things like spelling.
• Provide assistance to read the material or scribe.
• If the task proves to be too frustrating for Jack, if there is a classroom assistant in the class, s/he could work with Jack 1:1 to read the texts and scribe.
• Jack could sit at the front of the classroom to ensure engagement.
• Repeat his self-worth and value at school over and over until he comes to believe it too. 
• Because the ideas that students develop and believe about themselves determine their success or failure in school, every task and assessment, including this one, should become an opportunity to provide genuine feedback on his worth, effort and progress.

Jack’s personal background is a factor that stands out most significantly. It is heartbreaking when Jack tells me that he wishes his ADHD would go away so that he won’t be a burden to his mother. That he wants to be like the other kids in his class, “normal”. To support struggling students to do their best in class, they need to know that we do not want them to change; instead, we need to change our approaches, offering support and differentiation is a good start.

ELA Student - Erik

Erik, whose first language is Korean and speaks it at home, was fully educated in Russia, joined the school at the beginning of grade 6. He seemed happy, socially confident and willing to learn but was extremely slow to acquire English. In the group of ELA students who were all new admissions, he was making the slowest progress out of all of them. An important consideration for Erik’s slowness might be due to his cognitive working in three languages.

The diagnostic assessment, at the beginning of the year, placed Erik in Phase 1, an emergent learner. In addition to being placed in an ELA class, in place of learning a second foreign language (Spanish or French), Erik also attends an English Enrichment class to further develop his English language. At this level, Erik is self-conscious and often confused, is silent for periods of the school day, brings up pictures on his iPhone and uses gestures to support communication due to lack of vocabulary, relies on his first languages, reads and writes a limited number of high-frequency words, is challenged by new contexts and academic language, needs support for writing, and copies without understanding.

Modifications and Accommodations to Assessment

In particular, the reading and writing components of the assessment will be modified using some of the suggestions listed below. The second part of the assessment, speaking and sharing, does not need to be modified as sentence frames are in place already and they are natural scaffolds that support English language learners like Erik to practice speaking. It helps him not worry about expressing his thoughts in English, as it is taken care of using the sentence frames. The sentence frames help him get started on the task and increase the likelihood of finishing the task. All he has to do is go though the text, isolate the answers and plug it in.

• Ask Erik for his linguistic preference for translation. Would a translation of the two readings into either Korean or Russian work better for him?
• Allows him to learn the same material as other students as he continues to develop English language skills.
• Pair Erik with the other ELA student who speaks Russian.
• In this way, peer support in the first language will encourage Erik to engage with the assessment, especially useful during the first part of the assessment when discussing their prior knowledge of myths and fairytales.
• Allow Erik to record the information in the Venn diagram using his first language as well as English words and illustrations.
• Encouraging the use of his home languages helps build comprehension, deepen understanding, build confidence and gives him the chance to express himself.
• Using illustrations allows ELA students to form mental images related to what they are learning.
• I would create the Venn diagram on a larger scale (i.e. A3 paper) making it easier for Erik to include his first language and pictures.
• Lessen the examples in the sentence frames from 3 to 1 and expect less words to be listed in the Venn diagram.
• Erik still shows his knowledge with fewer examples and doesn’t have to worry about taking too long to finish.
• Provide more time to complete the assessment.
• In this way, Erik can take his time to read the two texts, allowing for online translation or software translation tools.
• Use a text-to-speech software so that Erik is supported by having the text highlighted as he listens to it being read (provide headphones).
• It can also provide opportunities for Erik to review content and develop an ear for the language.
• Simplify written and verbal instructions.
• This will make the content clearer so that Erik can access it.
• Provide a model of what a Venn diagram is and how to fill it in on the board, overhead or char paper, using a think-aloud format.
• Show examples of Venn diagrams.
• Speak at a slower pace, taking care to enunciate words.
• Write instructions on the board with visuals to support understanding.
• Simplify the text in the readings using a program such as https://www.simplish.org/.
• In this way, the texts are closer to his phase.
• Alternatively, provide different texts that are already simplified.
• In this same vein, the readings can be engineered so that they are more accessible without changing the words.
• For example, create a lot more white space, create headings, add definitions to key vocabulary in Erik’s first languages - all of this helps to amplify the readings.
• Change the process of the assessment.
• Erik may make more sense of the content if it is in video form instead of text.
• In this way, he can play videos at slower speeds and use closed captioning.
• Provide assistance to read the material.
• If there is a classroom assistant in the class, s/he could work with Erik 1:1 so the next time a Venn diagram or other graphic organizer is introduced, he is more likely to engage with it independently.

Conclusion

When I first thought about differentiation, I thought it was about creating a different lesson plan for each student in the class, involving long nights of planning (and then grading). But, as I have come to view it, differentiation is about making the process fair (not equal) so that all students can achieve the same. Sometimes, that happens in the moment, when you notice that most students are well on their way to completing the task and Erik is still translating, then you reduce the “product”. As mentioned above, Erik writes fewer examples and doesn’t have to worry about taking too long to finish and/or providing him with extra time. Sometimes, it means a bit of pre-planning by translating a text or highlighting vocabulary on a few of the readings or simplifying the language. By recognizing differences and using professional judgement, teachers can better respond to students in their teaching. As long as students are meeting the main learning objectives, they are learning. For example, to engage Jack in the assessment, he could compare and contrast two of his favourite video games, and the objective would still be met, learning about the “language of comparisons and contrasts as well as organizing and sorting information and vocabulary”. All students will learn but some may need support paving the best road to get there. For teachers, building relationships with their students - knowing their challenges, strengths and interests - is often the best way to differentiate the content, process or product.