Assesment Techniques: Accomodating Sociocultural Differences

"The culturally competent teacher should be able to use a variety of assessment techniques appropriate to diverse learners and accommodate sociocultural differences that affect learning. A teacher must be responsive to the linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics of the students in their assessment practices."(Odile Mattiauda)
In today's schools, with the representation in each classroom of many different sociocultural characteristics within approximately twenty-six students, this can be a full time job in itself. Proper assessment of the students is necessary in order to monitor learning and skill development. If accommodations are not made to sociocultural differences a teacher will not be able to properly gaige the students progress either as a whole or individually.Within the elementary grades assessments are made through teacher observation, student work, as well as through guided practice resulting in graded evaluations. These assessments must be diversified in conjunction with both the learner and assessment type.



Teacher observations should be utilized with a direct understanding of the students personal sociocultural background and personal progress. These observations should not allow for student to student comparison based on the diversity of the student sociocultural base. However, they should be individually goal oriented with preparation to accommodate a student in order to advance the understanding of the necessary skill, task, or assessment to increase the students aptitude on such skill, task, or assessment to what is their proper level.



Student work should provide a range in base of sociocultural characteristics which are known to be present within the class. Linguistic, ethnic, and cultural differences should be considered and utilized when selecting the work to be done. Linguistic, ethnic, cultural and other sociocultural differences should be plainly represented in the students daily work.



Guided practice leading to graded evaluations should be accommodated by both a teacher's individual observation of the student as well as student work that is plainly representative of sociocultural differences. Guided practice can involve multiple languages as well as cultural aspects for assimilation purposes. This will lead to a more effective graded evaluation.