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Session 5. Adapting Tasks and Assessment, and Working with Adults
Objective. Adapt tasks and assessment without lowering the goal, hold a strengths-first talk with parents, brief support staff, and write a one-page inclusion action plan with evidence.
The best classroom changes fall flat if the test treats everyone the same, if a parent hears only bad news, or if an assistant quietly does the pupil's work. This final session joins the pieces. You will adapt tasks and assessment without lowering the goal, plan a strengths-first talk with a parent, brief a support colleague, and write a one-page plan that says exactly how you will know whether your changes worked.
Key ideas
Adapt the route, not the goal
- Four levers: change the INPUT (shorter text, picture, spoken version), the SUPPORT (checklist, partner, example), the OUTPUT (write, draw, say) or the TIME (more or split time).
- Before changing a task ask: what is this task really measuring? If it measures understanding of a fraction, reading difficulty should not decide the result.
- Adapt for many, not many versions. Two or three versions of a task are manageable; thirty are not.
Fair assessment
- An assessment adjustment changes how a pupil shows learning, not what is measured: extra 10 minutes, questions read aloud, an oral answer, a larger print copy, or a picture response first.
- Be open about it: record each adjustment, use it in class first, and apply the same marking criteria. Fairness is giving each pupil a way to show the same thing.
- Follow your school's and ministry rules for official tests and ask your school leader what is allowed. For classroom assessments you have more freedom than you think.
Parents and support staff
- Parents know their child. Start a talk with a real strength and an example of work, describe what you see without labels, agree on one small step at home and at school, and ask what the parent notices.
- With a teaching assistant or helper, brief them before the lesson: the goal, the pupils, what to prompt and what not to do for the pupil. The aim is independence, not a permanent shadow.
- Keep notes of agreed steps and review them after two or three weeks. Short regular contact is better than one long meeting once a term.
Try it in your next lessons: your inclusion action plan
- Action: write a one-page plan with three changes from the five sessions, one step with a parent or support colleague, and the date you will review.
- Evidence: for each change say what you will collect: an exit ticket count, a before-and-after work sample, or a 5-minute observation note.
- Share the plan with a colleague and agree on a date to compare notes.
The inclusion improvement cycle
Adapting tasks and assessment without lowering the goal
Before changing a task, ask what it really measures. A maths word problem should measure the choice and carrying out of operations; if the text is so dense that reading decides the result, the test is measuring reading. Then use four levers: change the input (read the problem aloud, add a drawing), the support (a two-box plan), the output (explain aloud or draw before writing) or the time (extra ten minutes). Keep the marking criteria the same: correct operations, correct answer, a sensible check.
Fairness also means openness and practice. Use the adjustment in lessons first so it is familiar, record it, and apply it to any pupil who needs it, not only to the ones with a document. For official tests, follow your school and ministry rules, and ask your school leader what is allowed.
Partnership with parents and support staff
A strengths-first talk has a simple order. Open with a real strength and a piece of work. Describe what you see without labels ('long written texts take him longer than speaking'). Ask what the parent notices at home, and listen. Agree one small step at home and one at school, and set a date to look again. Short, regular contact beats one long meeting each term.
A support colleague who sits beside one pupil and finishes the work creates dependence. Brief them before the lesson: what the goal is, which pupils to watch, what to prompt ('What will you do first?') and what not to do (write the answer). Agree a simple signal for help, ask them to move around the room so the pupil works alone for part of the lesson, and meet for five minutes weekly.
Examples from the classroom
Same test, fairer route
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 5 in Tashkent. The bus problem (36 pupils, plus 4, minus 12) is hard for Aziz because of the long text, though he calculates well. She reads it aloud, draws a simple bus, gives a two-box plan, adds ten minutes and lets Aziz explain his steps aloud. The marking still checks the operations and the answer, 28. Aziz gets 3 of 3 steps right.
Insight. Adjust how the pupil shows learning, not what is measured.
A talk that starts well
Scene. Aziz's father comes to school anxious. Malika opens: 'Aziz asks the best questions in the class, and last week he explained the rounding rule to his group.' She then says, 'Long written texts take him longer.' They agree on 10 minutes of reading aloud together three times a week, and at school an oral-explanation option, to be reviewed in three weeks. The father relaxes and offers to read in the evening.
Insight. Strengths first, a plain description, and one shared step each.
From shadow to prompt
Scene. Zarina, a school helper in Tashkent, sat beside Aziz for 45 minutes and often wrote his answers. Malika meets her for five minutes on Thursday. They agree: read the question once, ask 'What will you do first?', do not write the answer, step away after one prompt and give a thumbs-up signal if help is needed. After three weeks Aziz works alone for 20 minutes of the lesson.
Insight. A short briefing turns a helper into a builder of independence.
Common pitfalls
- Changing the skill being tested (for example, replacing a reading task with colouring) and calling it an adaptation.
- Calling parents only when something is wrong.
- Letting an assistant sit with one pupil every lesson with no plan to withdraw.
- Writing a plan with no way to tell whether it worked.
Adapt a Task, Plan a Talk, Write Your Plan
- Read the sample test question, the parent scenario and the support-colleague scenario in your Activity Kit (Grade 5 mathematics test, Aziz).
- In pairs (10 min): adapt the question using the four levers while keeping what it measures, and write the marking criteria that stay the same.
- In threes (10 min): role-play the strengths-first parent talk (teacher, parent, observer) in 3 minutes, then the five-minute briefing of the support colleague. The observer notes one thing that worked.
- Alone (10 min): write your one-page inclusion action plan. Check it against the rubric: three changes, one adult step, evidence for each, a review date.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- What does your adapted question still measure, and how do you know?
- Which sentence in the parent talk made the parent more willing to work together?
- What evidence from Sessions 1 to 4 will you use to decide whether your plan worked?
Reflect
- What is the difference between helping a pupil show learning and doing the learning for them?
- Which parent have you only ever contacted with bad news?
- Which one change from this course will you protect even in a busy term?
Try it tomorrow
- Adapt one question or task with the four levers and keep the same marking criteria.
- Contact one parent with good news this week, using a strength and a piece of work.
- Write your one-page inclusion action plan, share it with a colleague and fix a review date.
Further reading and links
Change the route, keep the goal; talk with parents strengths first; brief support staff; and check every change with evidence.