Since the start of the school year, teachers and administrators have been discussing how to effectively help students following the interruptions of the previous two years. We know that children now have significantly more intellectual, social, and emotional requirements than in previous years, and a variety of data points confirm what most of us already experience on a daily basis: During the pandemic years, students' reading and math skills suffered. How do we respond as educators, and where do we go from here?

1. An Asset-Based Approach to
Instruction and Assessment
Since the start of the school year, teachers and administrators have been discussing how to
effectively help students following the interruptions of the previous two years. We know that
children now have significantly more intellectual, social, and emotional requirements than in
previous years, and a variety of data points confirm what most of us already experience on a
daily basis: During the pandemic years, students' reading and math skills suffered. How do
we respond as educators, and where do we go from here?
Teacher expectations of pupils, unsurprisingly, have a direct impact on accomplishment. Low
or negatively biased expectations can be detrimental to student development, leading to
underperformance. Even when expectations are excessively high, long-term student
progress and even future student careers benefit. Here are some ideas for raising the bar for
all pupils.
THINK ABOUT YOUR PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNERS.
Reflection is always a technique for me. It's critical to be honest with ourselves in this
situation. Reflection without judgment is essential for development. These questions will help
you reflect on how the year has gone so far:
Can you conceive of a student who you believe will fail the class because it is too difficult?
Can you think of a student who will fail if your expectations are too high?
Are you concentrating on what some pupils cannot achieve rather than on what these
students have demonstrated?
I believe most of us can (or once could) respond yes to at least one of these questions.
Following the initial reflections, it's essential to consider why we sometimes reach certain
judgments. These questions can assist teachers in comprehending the fundamental causes:
What makes me feel this way?
Are my perceptions supported by data?
Am I certain that I have used the data to the best of my professional ability to address
student gaps?

2. Is there anything else that influences my view of student ability?
I invite you to consider your expectations of all students and how these expectations affect
student results. Students rise to the occasion when we raise the bar in both instruction and
evaluation.
AN ASSET-BASED INSTRUCTION APPROACH
When we satisfy the academic requirements of the students who come into our classrooms
with the greatest gaps, they grow the most. In fact, development in literacy and math skill
levels declines as pupils progress from K to 12. As a result, accepting the possibility of
student progress when children are not in grade level is critical to setting high expectations
for all learners.
Furthermore, language is dictated by thinking. When we become enthusiastic about
assisting our students in growing, we speak the language of high expectations: trust in
student capacity, encouragement to persevere, and an acceptance of the learning that
sometimes comes only via failure.
Creating instructional groups: Teachers can use assessment or preassessment data to
assign students into tiers and provide small group instruction to those who require additional
attention. We may then begin mapping the gap between what each tier of learners already
understands on a trajectory toward meeting our expectations, while grade-level proficiency
remains the definite, lowest-level target for every student.
Teachers can differentiate by topic and procedure by grouping students into tiers, allowing
them to fulfill the requirements of learners at or above grade level (Tier 1) while also
providing small group teaching to kids who are behind their peers (Tiers 2 and 3). There is
no quick fix for students who enter in our classrooms lacking the skills needed to reach
grade-level standards, and resolving the most severe learning gaps needs time and attention
to focus on precursor skills.
Building relationships with these students on purpose provides the warmth required to
accompany the demand that must be imposed on every kid. However, this is only achievable
if we can anticipate our students to progress as well. If we consider the odds to be
insurmountable, the same children are likely to progress to the next grade level with the
same disparities.

3. A DATA AND ASSESSMENT APPROACH BASED ON
ASSETS
We can't confront skewed perceptions until we can identify them. With this in mind, going
through this process gives us a mental cue to pause and reflect when we feel the need to
decrease standards for particular pupils. All teacher expectations for children should be
data-driven, beginning with grade-level standards and proficiencies. Regardless of how I
perceive the children with whom I engage on a daily basis, my aim for every student in my
class is to read, write, speak, and listen at grade level.
Formative assessment: Knowing what students already know is an important part of
teaching new content. For example, if I am teaching students how to create an argument
using evidence to support a claim, I will assign my own low-stakes class work as a
preassessment.
This strategy is recommended by me for two reasons. As a teacher, I always had some
students who did not perform well on tests but were able to demonstrate knowledge of skills
during class activities after training. Furthermore, the low-stakes, teacher-created evaluation
allows us to engage our students in a context with which they are already comfortable in
order to separate skill from content. When content is not contextualized for pupils, assessing
skill becomes more difficult.
In my argument lecture, for example, my preassessment might ask students to defend a
claim on a popular subject on social media using evidence from sources I curated. This is a
low-stakes task that helps me understand what pupils already know about constructing an
argument using evidence. Not only am I confident in my teaching abilities, but I am also
confident in the potential of all of my students to develop a deeper grasp of how to properly
support a claim using evidence as a result of the training I am facilitating. We must have high
expectations for all students, but we must also have high goals for ourselves as educators.
As instructors, we establish a goal for the class, promote instruction and learning through
various tactics and activities, and then assess our students' knowledge. When pupils are
unable to demonstrate comprehension, an asset-based perspective of student ability
recognizes the importance of devising a new way to reteach, reframe, rework, and retry
when expectations have not been reached. Finally, if I am confident that my students will

4. always rise to the occasion, I must accept responsibility for ensuring that my instruction is
engaging, relevant, and, most importantly, effective.