Laws exist to ensure that all students, including students with diverse learning needs or a disability, are given equal access to a fair, free, and appropriate education. Teachers are legally required to deliver curricular adaptations by providing accommodations and modifications for any student that has been designated to receive them. As an elementary education teacher, your role is to understand how to provide assessment accommodations and modifications appropriately and know the best practices for assessment grading.
For this assessment, you will be required to adapt an assessment type to provide appropriate accommodations and modifications for meeting students’ diverse needs.
Preparation
Choose a grade level you want to teach (K–6th grade) and a content area you are comfortable with (e.g., reading, mathematics, science, social studies) to use as the basis for this summative assessment.
Consider the grade level and content area you’ve selected and choose 1 assessment type from the list below that could be used to assess student learning. Choose an assessment type that is appropriate for your selected grade level and that aligns with how you would assess learning in the content area you’ve selected. Choose from the following:
Formative
Summative
Portfolio
Performance
Constructed response (e.g., subjective, short answer, essay)
Selected response (e.g., objective, multiple choice, true/false, matching)
Scenario
As part of your school’s assessment initiative for the new school year, the Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) has requested that all teachers submit a plan for how they will adapt assessments for specific learners.
When providing assessment accommodations and modifications, it is necessary to have some background knowledge of your students’ diverse needs and/or disabilities to better meet their needs. Assume that the students you are adapting assessments for have the following learner characteristics:
Student 1: An English language learner (ELL)
Student 2: A student with reading skills approximately 2 years below grade level
Student 3: A student with an IEP for severe attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Assessment Deliverable
Write a minimum 700-word plan in which you explain how you will adapt your selected assessment type for the 3 students by providing an appropriate accommodation, modification, and grading strategy to meet the specific learner characteristics and needs for Student 1, Student 2, and Student 3.
Include the following information in your plan:
Assessment type:
Identify and describe the type of assessment you selected.
Explain your rationale for selecting the type of assessment, including how and why it aligns with the grade level and content area.
Assessment, modification, and grading strategy: Complete the following information for each of the 3 students.
Describe an appropriate assessment accommodation for this student, including a rationale for how the accommodation supports the student’s needs.
Describe an appropriate assessment modification for this student, including a rationale for how the modification supports the student’s needs.
Explain your grading strategy for this student’s assessment, including a rationale for how you would factor in the accommodation and modification when grading.
Cite sources to support your summative assessment.
Format your citations and references according to APA guidelines.
