Activity 1: Diagnostic Assessments for Differentiation
Project Description
Overview
A pre-assessment helps teachers gauge students' prior knowledge and provides a baseline. Teachers also collect data through formative assessment to identify students’ growth and academic needs. This information guides strategies to deepen understanding for advanced students, build content knowledge for those with limited backgrounds, and expand knowledge for others. Summative assessments evaluate student achievement post-unit, aligning with pre-assessment learning objectives to inform teaching and learning.
Objective
Candidates analyze how data from pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments can guide instructional practices, including differentiated instruction, student grouping, and reteaching.
What will you do?
In the Virtual Class,
discuss how pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments align and how they can be created utilizing backward design.
What is the purpose of pre-assessment?
What is a formative assessment?
What is a summative assessment?
Why must the information on your pre-assessment be aligned with your summative assessment?
How can you utilize backward design to create appropriate instruction based on what your summative assessment is measuring?
How will you use the information from your pre-assessment and formative assessments to inform your instruction, grouping strategies, or reteaching in the classroom?
Individually,
Consider that you will use formative and summative data for your clinical practice (modules 7 and 8). During clinical practice, you must collect student data for your entire class with multiple formative and summative assessments.
Create a reflection indicating the grade and subject you teach, what data you might collect, why you selected that data, how you might group students based on those results, and how you might alter your instructional planning to support students’ needs.
Candidate Assignment
Reflection on Data-Driven Instruction
Content specific methods requirements
Method Subject: English as a Second Language
As per your certification area, when completing this activity, follow the instructions provided by your M5 instructor, then, on the same or a different document, address following:
Consider the range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds in your classroom, including prior schooling experiences in their home language and in English or another language.
Create a list of methods or tools you might use to understand each ELL's academic characteristics (surveys, interviews, data analysis, discussions with other educators, etc.). The data you will gather and explore includes but is not limited to learners’ background knowledge, educational history and prior schooling experiences, and current performance data in other subject areas.
Illustrate how that data will help you develop effective, individualized instructional and assessment practices for your students using specific examples.
Share your document(s) with your Methods instructor and submit the same in the submission box for this activity.
A Reflection on Data-Driven Instruction
Activity 2: Data to Monitor Student Performance
Project Description
Overview
Many schools use MTSS to monitor student performance and identify interventions. MTSS starts with data collection and addresses academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs through prevention, enrichment, and intervention. MTSS and RTI serve distinct purposes: MTSS covers a broader range of needs and supports student and teacher growth, while RTI focuses solely on academic interventions for students needing extra support.
Learning objective
Candidates examine MTSS and develop a plan to apply MTSS to meet a case study student's academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs.
What will you do?
During the Virtual Class,
watch the short video on what separates MTSS and RTI in the Activity Resources.
discuss your current level of understanding about MTSS and RTI.
Have you worked at a school that utilizes MTSS or RTI?
What has your experience been with one or both frameworks?
Locate the MTSS and Triangulation of Data Case Study in the Activity Resources.
Discuss the student’s academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs.
Independently,
identify the student’s strengths and academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs. Then describe how you would apply different elements of MTSS to meet the needs of the whole student, including your recommendations for prevention, enrichment, intervention, teacher training, and family communication.
Candidate Assignment
Completed MTSS Case Study Template
Note: All assignment descriptions are written for Proficient. You should carefully examine the criteria for an Outstanding score if you want to aim for Outstanding.
Content specific methods requirements
Method Subject: English as a Second Language
As per your certification area, reflect on what you learned about culturally relevant and culturally responsive teaching in M4U6A2. Select an ELL as your case study student and, within your MTSS plan, include the following:
Identify and include strategies to make the classroom environment culturally and linguistically inclusive.
Include specific intervention or instructional strategies that align with culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogy.
Identify potential challenges faced in communicating with the family of your case study student, including language barriers, technology gaps, and cultural differences.
In the "Communication with Families" section of your MTSS plan, describe measures you would take to overcome these challenges.
Note additional methods to include other educators and school personnel in the plan, ensuring holistic support at home and in school to promote your student's academic, behavioral, and social-emotional success.
Reflect on the expected impact the culturally and linguistically relevant methods and strategies you included will have on the case study student's social emotional, behavioral, and academic growth.
Share your MTSS plan with your Methods instructor.
MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support) Case Study
VC (Virtual Class) Materials