PIP Written Report

Kristina Olafson April 2nd, 2023

Inquiry Question:

In what ways does differentiation impact assessments of students in an elementary school classroom?

Resources:

● Interviews with two teachers, and two student teachers

o What grade do you teach? Montessori or not?

o Do you have a child that needs differentiation?
o How do you differentiate for them?
o Does this child get assessed the same as others or differently? How and why?
o What do you wish you knew about assessing children with differentiation?
● A. (2013, November 7). Differentiation Definition. The Glossary of Education Reform.
https://www.edglossary.org/differentiation/
● A Formative Evaluation of Differentiation Practices in Elementary Cluster Classrooms. (2020, July
1). EBSCOhost. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://web-p-ebscohost-
com.ezproxy.uleth.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=54786e74-7ed9-4582-8884-
4044bd01b87d%40redis
● A Longitudinal Multicase Study of Preservice and Beginning Elementary Teachers. (2019,
September 1). EBSCOhost. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://web-p-ebscohost-
com.ezproxy.uleth.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=14b48a83-b907-413a-8b8d-
aac98736c9e3%40redis
● Kaur, A., Noman, M., & Awang-Hashim, R. (2019). Exploring and evaluating differentiated
assessment practices of in-service teachers for components of differentiation. Teaching
Education, 30(2), 160–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2018.1455084
● S. (2015, November 10). Assessment Definition. The Glossary of Education Reform.
https://www.edglossary.org/assessment/
● Welcome | Teach Special Education. (n.d.). https://www.teachspeced.ca/node/1

Reflection:

Throughout the semester I learned many skills, and ideas to help improve my knowledge of assessing
students in general, as well as to assess students who need to have differentiated instruction. This
question came about due to one student in my class who I did not know how to assess for, and even
after discussing with my TM, EA, Principal, LST, UC, and other teachers I was still unsure about how to
properly assess him. He has an ISP and does not learn the same curriculum as his focus is on life skills
and understanding the basic skills of each unit, and so I can’t effectively mark him with my usual
activities unless I create a completely new worksheet or activity for him which is not beneficial or
efficient. Researching for this PIP has helped me come up with some ways in which I can assess
differentiated students in the future.

Findings:

“Students are diverse in their skills, prior knowledge and understanding which, in turn, affect
the pace at which they comprehend new contents and demonstrate their learning.” (Kaur 2019)
Differentiation is important to utilize when you have students who do not learn by the
traditional full group instruction, or who struggle with various content related skills. If we
choose not to alter our instruction or assessment then specific students will not learn or
succeed, which is what they are attending school to do. The quote included above from Kaur
explains that every student who enters a classroom is from a diverse background with diverse
experiences. All students are different, and so expecting a one size teaching model to work
does not make sense. This is why we as teachers need to know how to effectively differentiate
to some degree, whether this is in instruction, assessment, or a mix of both.
The key with differentiated assessment is that without also having differentiated instruction,
the assessment is not beneficial. A student that has been learning the exact same way as others
even though they are not retaining anything will not benefit from altered assessment, as they
haven’t been given the knowledge to do the assessment. The instruction to teach the materials
needs to be different in some manner to help them learn before you can begin to assess in any
way. Amrita Kaur states that “as teachers learn and practice various teaching strategies, they
expand the possibilities for weaving rich, authentic lessons that are responsive to all students’
needs ... the adherence to a single approach will create an instructional situation that will leave
some students unraveled and on the fringe. “(Kaur 2019, pg 2) If we want any and all students
to succeed, we need to be willing to alter our teaching to help them.

Differentiation Assessment
Timer Oral assessments
Small Group (thinking classroom) Building and Exploring activities

Visuals during lessons Student decided product

Headphones

Alternate Seating
How do we know to differentiate?

● Who they are.

● How they learn
● If they have a learning or a physical disability
● Their socio-economic status
● What their prior learning experiences have been like
● What their prior knowledge is on a specific subject
● Know if they have an ISP.