Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom

In chapter three of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, Wormeli discusses the importance of assessment. He made a good point when he said “Students achieve more when they have a clear picture of the expectations.” For example Wormeli suggested that we as teachers should try to give the students and end-of-unit test on the first day of teaching the unit that way they know exactly what we want them to learn out of this unit. While learning the unit, and going through it, they will be able to refer back to that test and fill in the answers as they go. When the test finally comes they will have mastered the information because it was presented to them before that test day. I had never thought to do this until reading this chapter, and now I strongly believe that starting a unit almost backwards is actually very beneficial for the students!