A comprehensive assessment system for working with underperforming students This book describes a comprehensive assessment system especially appropriate for multilingual and "differentiated" classrooms with large numbers of underperforming students. Drawing from Multiple Intelligences theory, the approach is specifically aimed at helping teachers understand how each student learns and how best to tailor instruction to serve individual students' needs. Although the program makes use of conventional standardized tests and disability screenings, it places special importance on two approaches in particular: Student Portfolio Assessments and Personalized Learning Profiles. Provides detailed guidance and practical tools (including a DVD) for implementing successful portfolio and "profile" practices in the classroom Includes real-world examples of model assessment programs from five schools Explains how to integrate assessment into the instructional process as well as how the portfolio program can be used Formal profiles provide vital information about each student's cultural background, interests, strengths, and capabilities as well as their individual learning and language needs.

Table of Contents:
About This Book. About the Author. Acknowledgments. Foreword (Deborah Meier). Introduction. PART I: THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW. 1 Education for the 21st Century. Addressing the Landscape of Assessment Policies and Practice. To Sum Up. 2 Differentiated Instruction Starts with Differentiated Assessments. A Window into Learners’ Abilities: Adolescents with Learning Challenges. The Demographic Landscape of Assessment Policies and Practice. A Differentiated Assessment System: A Sociocultural Approach. A Comprehensive Assessment System in a High School in the Bronx. To Sum Up. Notes. PART II CASE STUDIES OF DIFFERENTIATED ASSESSMENT. 3 Differentiated Assessment In Middle Schools. Case Studies in Developing Differentiated Assessment. Grant as Catalyst: A Community Designs a System of Differentiated Assessment. Leaders' Lessons: Looking at Students’ Work Makes Learning Visible. Building a Collaborative Culture: Key Practices Structure Assessment Conversations. Differentiated Assessment Guides Instruction: Portfolio Rubrics as Common Criteria. Institutionalize Portfolios for Grading and Conferences: Celebrating Student Work. Leaders' Stories: Identifying the Assets of Diverse Groups of Language Learners. Teachers in Middle School Create Classroom Assessment Systems: Setting Standards. Teacher's Classroom Assessment Is Based on "Sitting Beside" the Language Learner. How Portfolios Help Teachers Become Researchers of Individuals. Profiles and Portfolios: The Window into the Learner's Mind and Potential. Reaching Every Language Learner Personally: Creating a Profile. Good Seeds Grow in Good Cultures: Teachers Create a Portfolio Culture for Learning. To Sum Up. Notes. 4 Differentiated Assessment in High Schools. Why Differentiate the Assessment? A Story of High Schools' Challenges. Differentiating Learners: Knowing the Adults and Children as a Community. Differentiated Assessment: Developing a Classroom Assessment System. Digital Portfolios Introduced as Personal Stories: Windows into the Learner's Mind. Guidelines for Classroom Assessment: Creating/Maintaining Portfolios. To Sum Up. 5 Classroom Assessment with Digital Portfolios. Differentiated Assessment: Seeing the Learner's Abilities. Making Learning Visible with Portfolios. Portfolio Assessment at New Day Academy. New Faculty Getting Started with Digital Portfolios. The Class and the Challenges. Students and Teacher at Work. To Sum Up. Note. PART III SEEING STUDENTS’ ASSETS: DIFFERENTIATED ASSESSMENT GUIDES INSTRUCTION. 6 Differentiated Assessment, Instruction, and Accommodation. Knowing Your Learner: Understand Cultural and Linguistic Assets. Knowing Your Learners: Building a Comprehensive Assessment System. Using the Student's Assets: Sociocultural Framework to Differentiate Assessment. Classroom Performance Assessments. Differentiated Instruction: Knowing Your Learners and Finding Their Strengths. Creating a Student Profile: A Teacher's Story of Differentiated Instruction. Differentiated Instruction: Knowing Individual Learners' Multiple Intelligences. To Sum Up. Notes. 7 How Differentiated Assessment Guides Instruction. Knowing Your Learners: Using Portfolios to Differentiate Assessment. Multiple Entry Points to Instruction: The Physical Environment Supports Learning. Anchor Activities and Flexible Grouping. Differentiating Instruction: Lesson and Unit Development for Secondary Students. Voices from the Field: Differentiated Instruction at the High School Level. Differentiated Curriculum: Meeting the Needs of All Learners. Implementing Differentiated Assessment and Instruction in the Classroom. To Sum Up. Appendix: DVD Table of Contents. References and Resources. Index. How to Use the DVD-ROM. System Requirements. Using the DVD-ROM with Windows. In Case of Trouble.