Explain the role of assessments as it applies to theoretical foundations of differentiatedinstruction.

Assessments help teachers to understand the level of understanding in learners.
Differentiated assessment is a process where the teacher is able to gather information prior and
after instruction and, in so doing, facilitate the learning process. Assessments ensure that all
learners achieve success in the learning process. Through assessments, teachers are able to
understand how learners are applying concepts learned in class, and in so doing, teachers are able
to modify instruction based on the strengths and the needs of the learners. Assessment in a
differentiated class needs to be authentic and thus means that students should be provided with
an opportunity to demonstrate real-life skills (Chapman & King, n.d.).
Describe how assessment can be created that evaluates a student’s true knowledge without
bias towards language barriers, learning differences, or cultural differences
Every learner is different, and this means that every learner learns differently. To this
end, it is important to understand each student’s learning style. Students also have differences
that stem from their background and gender. Teachers should seek to ensure that no student is
discredited owing to their background or gender. Teachers thus need to ensure that they collect
the relevant information from the students. The assessments should thus be created in a way that
the focus is on performance and, in so doing, eliminate language and learning differences.
Assessments should assess students on an individual level as opposed to assessing them as
groups.

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.
Formative assessment can be used as part of differentiated instruction when the teacher
uses it to get information about the students, follows a corrective instruction that is of high
quality, and gives learners many opportunities for them to show their abilities and success. The
rationale for using an informative assessment is to inform the process of instruction. Data
derived from formative assessments are used to help the teacher make informed decisions on
what is working for specific students and what is not working. Based on the information gathered
during these assessments, a teacher is able to differentiate instruction to help individual students
achieve success. Formative assessments help the educator know students that need more
attention, those that require a different approach from the one being used at the time, as well as
students who are not learning anything new and thus require to be challenged more (Dodge,
2009). It allows for accommodative and inclusive teaching.
After reviewing the assessment data, an educator tiers his or her instructional activities
depending on the different levels of learners. The instructor is able to provide both enrichment
activities as well as corrective activities depending on the different levels of learners in a
classroom (Dodge, 2009). Formative assessment provides data that calls for immediate action
from the teacher for the objectives to be achieved. Thus, depending on the results, an instructor
may act through corrective instruction or follow-up that should be designed to engage students in
new ways that will better their understanding by enhancing their learning experiences. In the
future, the instructor uses data from formative assessments to find new ways to meet the diverse

needs of the students as well as a different pathway to enhance their learning experiences
(Dodge, 2009). In most cases, this may involve a change or modification of format, organization,
or strategies used to present content.

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
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