Differentiated Instruction:

Principles of effective differentiation stem from and exist to ensure high quality curriculum, maximum individual growth, and sense of community. Effective attention to student differences must be rooted in a safe environment of mutual respect, shared responsibility for learning and heavy emphasis on individual growth.

We know that children learn best under these conditions:
· What they learn is personally meaningful
· What they learn is appropriate to their developmental level
· What they learn is challenging and they accept the challenge
· When students use what they know to construct new knowledge
· When students have opportunities for social interaction
· When students get helpful feedback
· When students acquire and use strategies for learning
· When students experience a positive emotional climate and
· When the environment supports the intended learning.

Therefore, a School District that differentiates instruction using the framework of the curricula, recognizes that:

· Students have different backgrounds and interest,
· Students learn at different rates,
· Some students will think more concretely and some more abstractly; some more dependently, some more independently,
· Students don’t all know the same things at the same degree of competency, therefore they will construct knowledge differently,
· Students will vary in the amount of collaboration they need and the sorts of peers with whom they work best,
· What is helpful for one student may not be for another,
· Each student needs to acquire strategies new to that student and use them in ways that are personally helpful,
· Classrooms that are quite positive for some students are distinctly not so for others and
· Students will need varied scaffolding to achieve both common and personal goals.