Chapter Five: Considering Evidence of Learning in Diverse Classrooms

Chapter five of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design addressed principles of effective assessments. Assessments are essential to educators because it is a guideline to ensure that the students learn the material and it also measures the extent of the students' comprehension. Teachers are also able to adjust teaching styles to be more effective for learners with varying needs. The chapter highly recommended using multiple sources of assessment evidence to measure a student's understanding. Educators cannot take one "snapshot out of a photo album" to fully be able to decide whether or not a student is learning the material. It is important to remember that the assessments should address the essential and enduring goals of the curriculum. There are three types of educational goals: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and dispositions. When a student is capable of not only knowing the information but implementing it in the real world, then educators are truly able to know whether or not a student understands the material. Therefore, it makes sense to implement different and multiple forms of assessments. I found that this chapter was extremely valuable to me in my pursuit of become a teacher because I understand that I am not going to change the curriculum for each student, but I will change the way I assess their understanding of the materials. This chapter also gave me an insight to the many forms and choices of multiple assessments (rubrics, diagnostic tests, etc.) By giving my students multiple forms of assessments, I am giving them a fair and equal chance to succeed. My feedback will also be timely, encouraging, and clear.