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: Why should we differentiate for readiness by offering various degrees of challenge in middle school classes? What results can we expect if students are asked to choose the level of challenge most appropriate for their learning?
Perspectives: What do students, teachers, and parents who have participated in a “challenge by choice” approach have to say about the experience?
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? How might a teacher respond?
Tiered Middle School Math Assessments : Examples of math assessments from Grades 6-8 that have been tiered by challenge. 8th grade assessments for the first four learning topics have been updated as of 10 November, 2009.
Tiered Science Assessments: Examples of science units and assessments that have been tiered by challenge.
Middle School Math Program Progression: How does learning proceed from one grade to the next when choices of challenge are offered within a grade level? How can a school communicate the philosophy of a “challenge by choice” approach and build a learning progression that accomodates the practical implications of students working at different levels of challenge from one grade to the next?
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: How do you evaluate and report student achievement when students have choices of challenge?
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. Read the November 2007 EducationalLeadership article, “When Students Choose the Challenge,” for an example of a “challenge by choice” math approach in practice.
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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.
David,
I was in your class at St. Mary’s – a couple of years after starting teaching middle school math, I came across notes from your classes. I talked another teacher into trying the this method. We have only just started it, the first test is tomorrow. The class received the homework options with open arms. I was impressed by some of the students who tried the more challenging problems. The homework completion rate soared, so I hope this will be reflected in test scores. We’ll see tomorrow.
Thank you.