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What happens when students are offered authentic assessment choices and given the responsibility for determining the appropriateness of their own learning targets?
The challenges involved with meeting the varied learning needs of adolescents are formidable. This blog was conceived with extremely diverse middle school student groups in mind and is dedicated to those of you who are constantly searching for ways to more effectively meet the needs of the students you teach.
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Tiered Instruction and Assessment: A description of the rationale and results of differentiating for diverse readiness levels in middle school classrooms
Perspectives: Reflective comments from teachers, students, and parents
Videos: Students are given the responsibility for determining their own readiness levels for challenge. How do you explain the rationale for differentiated learning targets and support students in their decision making? What does offering choices of challenge on homework assignments and tests look and sound like in practice? What questions do students ask, and how might a teacher respond?
Tiered Math Assessments: Examples of math assessments that have been tiered by challenge.
Tiered Science Assessments: Examples of science units and assessments that have been tiered by challenge.
Middle School Math Program Progression: A graphical and narrative description of a tiered middle school math program.
Implementation Steps: A list of suggested implementation steps if you decide to embark on a journey into tiered instruction and assessment.
Grading and Reporting Systems: A summary of three different grading and reporting systems that have effectively complemented tiered programs of instruction and assessment.
More Reading: Still not sure what you think of all this? Browsing through relevant research, examples of tiered lessons, and a collection of other readings can help you deepen your understanding of issues at play in diverse learning communities around the world. Recently, EducationalLeadership published an article about a tiered middle school math program.
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i am a student that was taught by mr suarez when he was teaching in oakland (a couple of years ago, about 3). (glad to hear it was a good experience) he used the color system first in my class. so this is what i think about it.
the goal system lets students pick how far they’ll go. they may overachieve, or they may underestimate themselves, but either way, they can learn a bit more about themselves. it lets the student be the teacher, in a way, because the students get to pick what would be considered an A for them. they can work at their own level, but still learn what everyone else does. it’s a great system for a diverse class (mind-wise). The students won’t feel as though they are behind, because they picked their level. they can’t fail that class if they picked goals that are suitable for them and reach the goals.
Thanks for putting together this terrific resource on tiering. We have teachers who are interested but apprehensive, and there’s lots to digest here for informing our practice, including the sample tiered assessments. Yea!
I wish I had a tiered system when I was in school… I always did quite well in math until I got to Geometry. Had we had a tiered system back then, other than ending up actually walking away with a bit more knowledge, I think my confidence level in math would have stayed up.