Diverse students, Flexible curriculum and differentiated assessment: Promoting learning in Hong Kong classrooms

Hong Kong's education reform has placed a strong emphasis on personal and social development to prepare school children to face challenging futures (CDC, 2002). It remains a significant task for teachers more used to focusing on academic achievement. At the present time, it is not clear how successful the new emphasis has been, especially for disadvantaged students in Hong Kong schools. This study, therefore, used quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the affective and social outcomes of students of 410 primary students across Grade 3 to Grade 6, age ranged from 8 to 11. The findings show that differentiated curriculum and assessment practices will contribute to the well being of low achievers but with poorer social and affective outcomes when they were placed in an integrated classroom with a standardized curriculum. Students with family problems were found to have a significant low perception on "opportunity", and the problem was found more serious when they moved to higher grade levels. These results have significant implications for all disadvantaged students but particular implications for ethnic minority students and issues such as class allocation, school curriculum and pastoral care will be discussed in the cultural contexts of Hong Kong.