Differentiated Instruction

Differentiation Tips for Parents

By: Ann-Marie Foucault (2008)

What is differentiated instruction and how can it help your child? This article helps parents understand and support differentiation in the classroom.

Using Peer Tutoring to Facilitate Access

By: The Access Center (2008)

Peer tutoring links high achieving students with lower achieving students or those with comparable achievement for structured learning. It's an effective educational strategy for classrooms of diverse learners, including students with disabilities, because it promotes academic gains as well as social enhancement. This brief discusses three research-supported peer tutoring strategies: Cross-Age Tutoring; Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS); and Reciprocal Peer Tutoring (RPT).

An Educator's Guide to Making Textbooks Accessible and Usable for Students with Learning Disabilities

By: Center for Applied Special Technology and LD OnLine (2007)

Learn how to obtain instructional materials in electronic text for your students who are dyslexic. E-text makes textbooks and other materials usable by supported reading software. Get names and links of publishers and accessible media producers to find the E-text you need. And learn how to qualify your students and obtain materials produced by the National Instructional Material Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) system.

The Need for Flexible Alternatives to Print

By: CAST (2006)

An important change in special education law in 2004 was the inclusion of NIMAS, the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard. This new regulation requires educational publishers to provide textbooks and other print materials in a digital format, so that students who have trouble with print can access the curriculum.

An Example of the 90 Minute Reading Block

By: Just Read, Florida! (2005)

Research shows that students need at least 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction per day in order for sufficient student reading development, and that this instruction must be dense: systematically delivering explicit teacher directions; scaffolded over time; and differentiated across the classroom. Here is a chart from Just Read, Florida! that provides an example of how to set up a good 90-minute reading block.

How to Adapt Your Teaching Strategies to Student Needs

By: Kathleen Bulloch (2004)

Teachers are often asked to modify instruction to accommodate special needs students. The following article takes the mystery out of adapting materials and strategies for curriculum areas.

How to Modify Your Teaching for Students With Low Organizational Skills

By: Kathleen Bulloch (2004)

Classrooms today have students with many special needs, and teachers are often directed to "modify as necessary." The following article takes the mystery out of modifying your teaching strategies with concrete examples that focus on students' organizational skills.

Differentiated Instruction for Writing

By: The Access Center (2004)

Differentiated instruction, also called differentiation, is a process through which teachers enhance learning by matching student characteristics to instruction and assessment. Writing instruction can be differentiated to allow students varying amounts of time to complete assignments, to give students different writing product options, and to teach skills related to the writing process.

Differentiated Instruction for Reading

By: Access Center (2004)

Differentiated instruction is based on the premise that instructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to individual and diverse students. This brief looks at how differentiation strategies applied to reading can be designed to help students learn a range of skills including, phonics, comprehension, fluency, word prediction, and story prediction.

Grouping Students Who Struggle With Reading

By: Sharon Vaughn, Marie Tejero Hughes, Sally Watson Moody, and Batya Elbaum (2001)

There are a variety of grouping formats that have been proven effective for teaching reading to students with learning disabilities: whole class, small group, pairs, and one-on-one. This article summarizes the research and implications for practice for using each of these grouping formats in the general education classroom.

Tips for Inclusive Practice

By: National Institute for Urban School Improvement (2000)

Inclusive classrooms are classrooms that revolve around individualizing instruction. This list of classroom practices for including students with disabilities can also serve as a roadmap for improving the education of all children.

Teaching All Children

By: National Institute for Urban School Improvement (2000)

From tailored learning experiences to flexible school structures, there are certain characteristics of instruction that is designed to meet the needs of individual students. Learn about these characteristics in this overview of what it means to teach every child.

What Makes Differentiated Instruction Successful?

By: Carol Ann Tomlinson (2000)

Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.

What Is Differentiated Instruction?

By: Carol Ann Tomlinson (2000)

Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.

Differentiated Classroom Structures for Literacy Instruction

By: Diane Henry Leipzig (2000)

Differentiating instruction is more complex than just providing different students with different learning experiences. Learn about this distinction by reading classroom examples that contrast differentiated literacy instruction with simply different instruction.

Groupings That Work for Students With Disabilities

By: Jane Burnette (1999)

Peer tutoring, cross-age tutoring, and small learning groups have been shown by research to be effective for teaching reading to students with and without learning disabilities. This articles affirms that using a variety of grouping formats is preferable to whole class instruction or ability grouping.

Using Collaborative Strategic Reading

By: Janette K. Klingner and Sharon Vaughn (1998)

Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) teaches students to use comprehension strategies while working cooperatively. Student strategies include previewing the text; giving ongoing feedback by deciding "click" (I get it) or "clunk" (I don't get it) at the end of each paragraph; "getting the gist" of the most important parts of the text; and "wrapping up" key ideas. Find out how to help students of mixed achievement levels apply comprehension strategies while reading content area text in small groups.