Overview

What is differentiated instruction?

Key Questions to Consider
How do we use diagnostic data to plan and implement quality curriculum and instruction? How should students be grouped to help them achieve their learning goals? Which intervention programs can be used to help provide quality instruction at the right moment? What progress monitoring tools are in place to assist with delivering instruction aimed at improving individual learning experiences?

Differentiated instruction is a systematic approach to planning curriculum and instruction for academically diverse learners (Tomlinson, 2003). Looking through the lens of differentiated instruction, educators support each student's learning, making use of measures that show how they learn best and motivating them through individual interest and connections. Differentiating instruction is a means to ensure that every student has access to high-quality curriculum and instruction so that all students will be proficient in the California content standards and achieve maximum growth. Teachers, administrators, and stakeholders carefully plan for modifying their school and district curriculum, instruction, grouping, assessment techniques, and evaluation methods in order to best serve their diverse student populations.

Differentiated instruction is student centered

Differentiation is a way of thinking of instruction as responsive to student needs, recognizing that students are more effective learners when they feel significant and respected. By effectively differentiating instruction, schools can meet their role in maximizing the capacity of each student. Tailoring instruction to the needs of individual learners often entails addressing multiple groups of students, such as those identified with learning disabilities or other special needs, English learners, students of generational poverty, students at risk of failing, benchmark students, and advanced learners. Students may be among more than one of the groups identified for differentiated instruction, depending on their individual profile, readiness, and interests. There is no single way to group students for differentiation. Some groups common in our classrooms are identified below.

Students with special needs

Students identified with special needs typically have an individualized education plan (IEP) that describes the goals set for the child for the school year, as well as any special supports that are needed to help achieve those goals. Special resources may be made available to help them meet the standards, including personnel who may be responsible for providing specific academic interventions. According to the Guide to the Individualized Education Program, "The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities" (2000, Introduction).

Students of generational poverty

Students of generational poverty are often identified as those who are eligible for the National School Lunch program (Marzano, 2004). These children may have multiple risk factors affecting their academic performance, including (but not limited to) lacking access to health care, adequate nutrition and decent housing, and growing up in a single-parent household. Such students may encounter difficulty in acquiring the academic language and background knowledge necessary to succeed, and thus need enriched educational experiences and explicit instruction to build towards achievement.

English learners

Because language acquisition occurs as a developmental process, students who are English learners have the complex goal of developing proficiency in English while also working to master the concepts and skills involved in each content discipline. Students identified as English learners encompass a broad range of individuals who demonstrate different levels of English proficiency, speak a number of primary languages, come from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, and may have had experiences in other educational systems that differ from the community where they live.

Advanced learners

Advanced learners comprise students who may or may not have been formally identified as gifted and talented yet demonstrate performance in a particular academic area at a level significantly above the performance of their peers. Districts may set their own criteria for identifying gifted and talented students. Advanced learners benefit from opportunities that provide challenge, enrichment, or acceleration in their instructional program.

Response to intervention: A model for differentiating instruction

Response to Intervention is the practice of providing high quality instruction or intervention matched to students’ needs with frequent progress monitoring and formative evaluation, applied to individual educational decisions. It is implemented by allocating resources to deliver effective interventions that produce improved child outcomes (CDE, 2006). Response to Intervention can be an effective means of providing differentiated instruction. By planning instruction based on decisions made from the analysis of diagnostic data, teachers can more effectively teach all children according to individual student needs. Because Response to Intervention utilizes frequent progress monitoring, learning gaps can be identified more immediately and corresponding intervention provided.

The multi-tiered model of delivering instruction allows for more individualized learning experiences. Schoolwide tiered systems provide instruction in tiers of intensity. The core instruction (first tier) is characterized as preventative and proactive, with flexible grouping of students. In targeted group interventions (second tier), students receive additional opportunities to practice on identified skills. With intensive, individual interventions (third tier), students receive explicit, systematic instruction in small groups or individually.

Resources

California Department of Education, Response to Intervention Training for California Educators
http://www.scoe.net/rti (outside link)
This webcast event provides training for educators seeking to match high quality instruction to student needs.

Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) - Universal Design for Learning
http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html (outside link)
As a way of orientation, this publication provides an overview, flow process chart, and resources for approaching differentiated instruction.

National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)
http://www.nasdse.org (outside link)
NASDSE is dedicated to providing research-based practices and programs that are responsive to the needs of all students, including those with disabilities.

References

Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). (2006). Response to intervention: Policy considerations and implementation. Alexandria, VA: National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

Tomlinson, C. A., & Cunningham Eidson, C. (2003). Differentiation in practice: A resource guide for differentiating curriculum, grades 5-9. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. (2000, July). Guide to the individualized education program. Retrieved May 9, 2007 from http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html#preface

Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. (2005). Introduction to the 3-tier reading model: Reducing reading difficulties for Kindergarten through third grade students (Fourth Edition). Austin, TX: Author.

Walqui, A. (2000). Access and engagement: Program design and instructional approaches for immigrant students in secondary school. McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics.