In today’s diverse educational landscape, students encounter various barriers throughout their learning journeys. To address these challenges, educators can leverage stances and strategies to help students break these barriers down. Miss P Durka Devi, a Teaching Fellow from the National Institute of Education’s Learning Sciences and Assessment Department , offers valuable insights into the interconnectedness of differentiated instruction, assessment and feedback. This article explores the relationship between DI and assessment, and how teachers need to consider accessibility in designing assessment and giving feedback. 

P Durka Devi, Teaching Fellow, Learning Sciences and Assessment (LSA) Department, National Institute Education.

The Relationship Between Differentiated Instruction and Assessment 

Differentiated instruction (DI) and assessment are fundamentally interrelated. One of the key principles of DI is ongoing assessment as assessment data is critical to understand where students are in their learning journey, what they need, and how they best engage with content.  

“Assessment plays a crucial role in DI by helping educators understand students’ current learning stages, their needs and their engagement levels with lesson content,” Devi explains. Formative assessment is vital as it equips educators with insights necessary to adjust the content and process of learning for various students. 

“Quite often, we see much focus being placed on the knowledge and skills dimensions in DI, but I believe that it’s even more important to get an understanding of how students are unique in terms of their attitudes, beliefs, dispositions and interests. To this end, more qualitative assessment strategies such as the use of drawings and journals are very good ways of seeing things from the students’ perspectives,” Devi adds. 

The Role of Feedback in Supporting Learning 

If assessment drives DI practices, then feedback is the fuel that keeps it moving forward. It keeps the cycle of learning and adjustment active during the learning journey. “What then is an effective cycle? It begins with clarity of goals – the learning objectives and success criteria,” Devi explains. An effective feedback cycle begins with clear learning objectives and success criteria. By establishing these parameters from the outset, educators can continuously refine their instructional practices and enhance students’ ability to grasp lesson content. 

Secondly, it includes opportunities for students to seek, provide and utilize feedback. Not only does feedback help students improve their understanding, but it also allows them to share their perspectives with teachers about the lessons. Moreover, involving students in planning their next steps ensures that they are active participants in their learning journey. 

“The educators’ role here is to ensure the smooth running of this cycle in designing assessment tasks to not only gather and provide useful feedback, but also to involve students in using feedback to support their learning,” Devi says. 

Designing Assessment to Support Learning for All Learners 

Creating accessible learning environments where students can engage in learning and demonstrate that they have learnt without barriers is an essential DI principle; however, the reality often presents challenges. Students may encounter internal barriers, such as motivation issues, self-efficacy beliefs, language difficulties and visual spatial learning capabilities, as well as external factors like socioeconomic and cultural contexts. 

“However, this does not mean that we need to create different lessons and assessment tasks for each student,” Devi explains. To support all learners effectively, she suggests that educators consider several key questions when designing assessments: 

• Is there alignment between learning objectives, success criteria and the task? 

• Is the task too complex linguistically, procedurally or visually? 

• Does the task connect to learners’ interests, prior knowledge and experiences? 

• Does the task engage students cognitively, behaviorally and affectively? 

• Does it include scaffolds to support the learner in demonstrating learning? 

• Does the task offer opportunities for feedback and feedforward to sustain learning? 

By addressing these considerations, Devi believes teachers can make informed choices that foster inclusivity and enhance students’ access to learning.