Chapter 9: Ten Approaches to Avoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading

Chapter nine is a list of do-nots in differentiated instruction. The chapter covers many items on the list that were the focus of previous chapters. The main idea is avoiding the grading of anything that isn’t mastery. Homework shouldn’t greatly affect a student’s grade, and neither should extra credit. Students should be allowed to try to prove their mastery as many times as they need to. Scaffolding and differentiating are tools within the classroom; we should not withhold them. We should not assess students in ways that will not allow them to demonstrate their mastery, differentiation is all about making sure students have the opportunity to show how they know something, not show us in one specific way. Group grades are another thing to avoid, as they don’t represent what individuals know and feedback is more about group dynamics than student knowledge. Most of this list was already on my own, and now I have more to add and think about as I start teaching.