Differentiation may include the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding a topic, or it may focus on the product of a lesson: writing assignments, presentations, and projects. It may also involve adapting the content or adjusting the level of difficulty of the work.

Identifying learning styles and preferences is also a key aspect of differentiation. However, tiers should be flexible and fluid; students shouldn't feel compartmentalized within their ability groups.

Tiered Assignments

Differentiation is an education philosophy that recognizes the fact that students process information differently. It seeks to accommodate their readiness levels, interests and learning profiles. The goal is to help all learners make progress toward the same academic objectives.

Teachers can differentiate assignments by varying their presentation methods to suit student needs. This could include using menu units, choice boards or open-ended lists of final product options. Tiered assignments can also vary by challenge level, complexity or outcome.

Another way to differentiate is by streamlining grade-level curriculum for high-ability students. This process is called curriculum compacting and allows students to move more quickly through content they already understand so that they can focus on new, more challenging material. This can be done in conjunction with other differentiation strategies. For example, a teacher may use a combination of tiered assignments and flexible grouping to allow higher-achieving students to learn in their own way. This approach can help prevent high-ability students from becoming bored and disengaged with their curriculum.

Learning Profiles

Learning profiles help teachers understand students’ strengths, comforts, and areas of challenge. They also provide guidance to create engaging activities that challenge but not frustrate students. These can be based on pre-assessments and screening tools such as questionnaires, interviews, and observations.

The resulting learning profile can be used to determine how content should be presented or assigned. For example, an introverted student may do better writing an essay while an outgoing student prefers to give a presentation. These different ways of processing lesson content can motivate learners and ensure that they remain engaged in class.

In theory—though critics allege not in practice—differentiation involves providing options for assignments and presenting material multiple times to meet student needs. But the process can be time consuming and requires extensive training for teachers to implement effectively. It is also difficult to evaluate in a classroom setting. Despite these challenges, differentiation remains a popular strategy to support diverse learners. Its benefits include helping students keep up with grade level content and maintaining high levels of student achievement.

Flexible Grouping

Educators can use flexible grouping to provide support and challenge for all students. This approach is effective for addressing learning needs in any subject area, but it works best when teachers begin with clear instructional goals and understand their students’ abilities and interests.

This approach is different from tracking, which separates students into groups based on their academic performance (e.g. honors, remedial). Tracked students stay within their group throughout the year. Flexible grouping allows for fluidity and frequent reevaluation, which ensures students receive targeted instruction.

In addition to supporting learning, this approach offers opportunities for students to work with peers with diverse perspectives. Students often gravitate toward peer group members who share their experiences and views. Having to work with new partners helps students become more open to divergent points of view. This can help combat status differences and build student social skills. For example, students who are regrouped in math might be paired with English-dominant peers and Spanish-dominant peers to expose them to the range of language usages they will encounter while completing a task.

Content Choices

Educators can differentiate the content that students learn by creating assignments that cover various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a classification of intellectual behavior that goes from lower-order thinking skills like remembering and understanding to higher-order skills such as applying and analyzing. Differentiation also allows educators to create a more personalized learning experience for each student by allowing students to work at their own level within the lesson.

Fleming notes that while it’s easy to pigeonhole students into one type of learning style, the reality is that most use a mix of learning styles. It’s important that teachers make the effort to offer activities that appeal to all types of learners.

While differentiation involves more preparation time, many educators find that the benefits outweigh the extra prep time. By following these strategies, teachers can ensure that all students are challenged and engaged in the learning process. Don’t forget to delve into the ongoing assessment aspect of differentiated teaching as well, which helps teachers keep up with students’ changing needs as they progress through a unit.