New England League of Middle Level Education …caroltomlinson.com/handouts/NELMS Keynote.pdf · in...

Copyright 2013 Carol Tomlinson 1

Teaching Today’s Students: A Case for Differentiated Instruction

New England League of Middle Level Education

Providence, RI April 5, 2013

Carol Tomlinson, Ed.D. William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor

University of Virginia <[email protected]>

What is differentiation?

Differentiation is classroom practice that looks eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids differ, and the most effective teachers do whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids on learning. -Tomlinson (2001)


At its most basic level,

differentiating instruction

means “shaking up” what

goes on in the classroom

so that students have

multiple options for

taking in information,

making sense of ideas,

and expressing

what they learn.

“It means teachers proactively plan varied approaches to what

students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they will show what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood

that each student will learn as much as he or she can, as

efficiently as possible.”


Differentiation is

a sequence of common sense decisions

made by teachers

with a student-first orientation.

Adam Hoppe, 2010

Ensuring an environment that actively supports students in the work of learning (mindset, connections, community) Absolute clarity about a powerful learning destination, (KUDs, engagement, understanding, teaching up), Persistently knowing where students are in relation to the destination all along the way (pre- & on-going assessment), Adjusting teaching to make sure each student arrives at the destination (and, when possible, moves beyond it), Effective leadership & management of flexible classroom routines.

THE HALLMARK OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING

Environment, Curriculum, Assessment, Instruction & Leadership/Management Working Together


Some Demographic Realities

that Point to Differentiation

What would we do In terms of instruction if we made decisions

based on the demographic realities of the students we teach?


Academically Diverse Students

• Today’s classrooms are typified by academic diversity (Darling Hammond, Wise, & Klein, 1999; Meier, 1995).

• Seated side-by side in classrooms are: – …students with learning disabilities and reading difficulties

– …highly advanced learners – …English language learners

– …students who chronically underachieve – …students from broadly diverse cultures – …students from highly diverse economic backgrounds

– …students of both genders – …students displaying varying degrees of motivation, interests, skills, etc.

Academically Diverse Students

• In 1970, 12% of the U.S. population was non-white.

• In 2000, 30% were of non-white, non-Anglo-European ancestry.

• In the period from 1980-2000, the white, non-Hispanic population grew by 7.9%.

• The population that identified itself as non-

white or Hispanic grew by 88%.

Lynch, E., & Hanson, M., (2004). Developing cross-cultural competence (3rd Edition). Baltimore:

Paul H. Brookes Publishing , p. 7.

Thinking about English Language Learners

• More immigrants arrived in the US in the 1990s than in any other decade on record.

• Today, students in U.S. schools speak more than 450 languages.

• More than 12% of all pre-K-12 students in the U.S. are considered English language learners.

• By the year 2015, more than 50% of all students in K-12 public schools across the U.S. will not speak English as their first language.

Gray, T., & Fleischman, S., (2004). Successful strategies for English language learners.

Educational Leadership, 62 (4), 84-85.


Thinking just about Students with Disabilities

• 96% of general education

teachers in the U.S. have

students with disabilities in their

classrooms.

• On average, there are at least 3-4

students with IEPs integrated

into each general education

class in the U.S.

• Three of four U.S. students with

disabilities spend 40% or more

of their day in general education

classrooms.

• One in five children in the U.S.

suffers from some emotional or

behavioral condition.

US Department of Education (2001). 23rd annual report to Congress

on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).

Washington, DC: U.S. Gov’t. Printing Office

National Academy of Sciences (Reported in Time Magazine, 11-01-10

Keeping Young Minds Healthy, p. 41.


• Approximately 3 to 5 students in 100 in the U.S. have ADHD

• Approximately 1 child in 59 in the U.S. is diagnosed with a learning disability

SOURCE: National Institutes of Mental Health


• Autism Spectrum Disorder prevalence in the U.S. has recently been adjusted from 4 or 5 children in 10,000 to 1 child in about 150

• SOURCES: CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Surveillance Summaries; Feb. 9, 2007; vol 56: pp 1-40. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, MD, Chief, Developmental Disabilities Branch, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC. Catherine Rice, PhD, behavioral scientist, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC.


Poverty in the U.S.

•The U.S. has the highest rate of child poverty in the developed world.

•The school dropout rate is 2 ½ times higher among children of poverty than among students from non-poor homes. •Children of poverty are 2 ½ times more likely to perform poorly in school than their more affluent peers. •They are 2½ times more likely to develop a conduct disorder.



based on the demographic realities of the students we teach?

We’d teach with the knowledge that culture, gender, experience, economic status, language,

adult support, and a myriad of other factors shape shape student learning!

Sample Research

that Points to Differentiation


based on research related to differentiation?


Beecher, M., & Sweeny, S. (2008). The achievement gap between Caucasian students and low income students of color diminished in math, reading, and writing in this elementary school that used enriched curriculum and differentiation with all students. Achievement gains occurred across student groups and attitudes about school improved as well. Brighton, C., Hertberg, H., Moon, T., Tomlinson, C., & Callahan, C. (2005). Students in differentiated middle school classrooms showed statistically significant achievement outcomes compared to students in a different treatment group and to students in a control group. Brimijoin, K. (2001). Evidence of strong achievement gains on a state standards test for students in an effectively differentiated elementary classroom. Chamberlin, M. & Powers, R. (2010). This quasi-experimental study showed that students receiving differentiated instruction in n undergraduate college mathematics class experienced greater gains in their mathematical understandings than students in a control group.

Sample Research on Differentiation

Geisler, J., Hessler, R., Gardner, R., & Lovelace, T. (2009). Five high-achieving urban African American first graders with weak writing profiles had differentiated writing instruction in their regular classroom focused on two strategies, self-counting and synonym lists. All five students demonstrated improved writing outcomes in terms of both writing output and use of a broader range of words. Grigorenko, E. and R. J. Sternberg (1997). Students taught with a learning profile match outperform those taught in a more traditional manner. Hellman, D. W. (2007). This mixed methodology study investigated the effects of facilitated teacher support groups and differentiated instruction on student achievement at two urban schools. The effects of teacher use of differentiated instruction, with fidelity, on the reading and mathematics achievement scores of approximately 906 students were assessed using ANOVA procedures and effect sizes were calculated. Both the reading and mathematics achievement change scores and the difference in the teacher fidelity observation scores by treatment group were statistically significant. A clear relationship also existed between the teachers’ mean implementation fidelity scores and the student achievement scores.

Sample Research (Cont’d)

Marulanda, M., Giraldo, P., & Lopez, L. (2006). First grade children in Colombia whose reading instruction utilized the model of differentiating content, process, and product in response to student readiness, interest, and learning profile over a four month period had fewer oral reading errors, higher comprehension scores, fewer students scoring below grade level, and more students scoring above grade level than control students. Rasmussen, F. (2006). Students in a Chicago high school receiving more instruction from a differentiated instructional methodology outperformed students receiving less instruction from a differentiated methodology on American College Testing (ACT )English, ACT Mathematics, ACT Reading, and ACT Composite. Tieso, C. (2002). Achievement gains found across economic and achievement levels through pre/post-test results for students in effectively differentiated intermediate math classrooms. Tomlinson, C., Brimijoin, K., & Narvaez, L (2008). Multi-year studies in an elementary school and a high school indicate positive and sustained achievement gains for students in all segments of the achievement spectrum and in a range of subject areas as a result of differentiated instruction. In the high school, the student dropout rate has also fallen sharply and student participation in Advanced Placement courses has risen by almost half, with AP exam scores holding steady or rising despite the increased enrollment. In both sites, a school-wide emphasis on differentiation has continued for at least seven years and achievement gains have continued over that time span.


Differentiation Addressed by John Hattie

Teachers must know where students are and aim to move them “+1” beyond that point; thus the idea of teaching the class as a whole is unlikely to pitch the lesson correctly for all students. This is where the skill of teachers in knowing the similarities across students and allowing for the differences becomes so important. Differentiation relates primarily to structuring classes so that all students are working at or “+1” from where they start, such that all can have maximal opportunities to attain the success criteria of the lessons. A truism in many schools is that the year of schooling reflects the spread of of readiness levels more than anything else—at year 5 suggesting a 5 year readiness spread among students and at year 10 a 10 year spread. How to accommodate this spread is a major concern.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. New York: Routledge, p. 97.

Many schools—especially high schools—resort to structural methods (e.g. tracking, pull-out programs). Despite these methods, all classes are full of heterogeneity, which is likely advantageous because students can learn so much from one another. There is no doubt that every student is different from every other one. An art of teaching is seeing the commonality among the differences and having peers work together around those commonalities—especially when they bring different talents, errors, interests, and dispositions to the situation. Note that differentiation relates more to addressing students’ different phases of learning from novice to capable to proficient rather than merely providing different activities to different groups or students.


For differentiation to be effective, teachers need to know, for each student, where the student begins and where he or she is in his or her journey toward meeting the criteria of the lesson. Is the student a novice, somewhat capable, or proficient? What are his or her strengths and gaps in knowledge and understanding? What learning strategies does he or she have and how can we help him or her to develop other useful learning strategies? Depending on the student’s phase of learning, their understanding of surface and deep thinking, their phase of motivation, and their strategies of learning, the teacher will have to provide different ways in which students can demonstrate mastery and understanding along the way to meeting the criteria for success. It should be obvious that rapid formative feedback can be very powerful for teachers to know a student’s phase of learning and then help them to achieve “+1” outcomes.



The key is for teachers to have a clear reason for differentiation and to relate what they do differently to where the student is located on the progression from novice to expert relative to the learning goals and criteria for success. In grouping students, the goal is not necessarily to arrange students by place in the learning progression, but rather to group students at varied places in the progression so students can move forward as they discuss with, work with, and see the world through the eyes of other students. It is a mistake to assume that just because students sit in groups, that they work in groups, or that any form of differentiation occurs. That requires structure and instruction for students to develop the skills necessary for those things to happen.



based on research related to differentiation?

We’d attend to student variance in readiness, interest, and approach to learning, with

fidelity to a research-based model!


based on the realities of the real students we teach?

We’d honor their varied differences, build on their varied strengths, & consistently provide varied academic support systems that maximize their growth.


The Ethics of

Education and

Differentiation

What would we do in terms of Instruction if we made decisions

from a position of “advanced” moral

or ethical development— If that were our “North”?


Obedience (Because the rules say so)

Self Interest (Because it works for me)

Conformity Relationship (Because people will think well of me)

Compromise Social Contract (Because it will serve us all well)

Ethical Principles (Because it’s right)

In today’s Information Age . . .

educators must operate from the premise

that it is the purpose of schools

to bring all students to their full potential

and to a level of education

that was once reserved

for the very few.

Professional Learning Communities at Work:

Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement

by Richard DuFour & Robert Eaker

1998, ASCD • pp. 62

CHOOSING CONTENT THAT’S WORTH KNOWING

Who is “all”?

Choosing Content That’s Worth Knowing • George D. Nelson • Educational Leadership, Oct. 2001, pp. 12-16

Whatever the curriculum goals, we

must be clear about which students

the goals are to serve. When we say

all students, do we mean the top

15%, the 50% who might go on to

higher education—or do we really

mean all students?


A Pedagogy of Poverty

§giving information

§ asking right answer

questions

§ giving directions

§ giving low level tasks

§ monitoring seatwork

§ reviewing

§ giving tests

§ going over tests

§assigning homework

§ going over homework

§ settling disputes

§ punishing noncompliance

§ grading papers

§ giving grades

M.Haberman • “The Pedagogy of Poverty vs. Good Teaching” Phi Delta Kappan, 1991 • 290-294

A PEDAGOGY OF PLENTY

authentic tasks

meaning-driven curriculum

literacy-rich environment

quality resources

connecting school with home,

culture and community

problem-focused learning

cognitive and metacognition

in the context of purposeful

activities

collaborative work on issues

of deep concern to the

students

varied social configuration

engagement in substantive

dialogue, discussion, debate

about the substance of content

making meaning

Helen Hodges • Overcoming a Pedagogy of Poverty”

R.Cole, Ed. More Strategies for Educating Everybody’s Children

ASCD, 2001 * p. 1-9


Kathleen--Age 14

Push me! See how far I go!

Work me ‘till I drop--

Then pick me up.

Open a door,

And make me run to it before it closes.

Teach me so that I might learn,

Then show me the Tunnel of Experience,

And let me walk through it alone.

Then, when, near the end, I look back,

And see another in the Tunnel,

with you watching

I shall smile!

My Stream of Consciousness

You think that I don’t know that you think

I got an F because I’m lazy and indifferent.

But maybe I’m just under-challenged and under-appreciated.

Deep down I am begging you to teach me

To learn and create--not just to memorize and regurgitate.

I’m asking you to help me find my own voice.

I’m asking you to help me find my own beauty.

I’m asking you to help me find my own unique truth.

We need a miracle

One for every kid who subconsciously wants

To be pushed to the edge/taken to the most extreme limits.

I want you to make my brain work in a hundred different

ways every day.

I’m asking you to make my head ache with knowledge--

spin with ideas.

I want you to make my mind my most powerful asset.

--Siem Tesfaslase, 10th grade, Arlington High School

Indianapolis, Indiana

In Y. Jackson “Reversing Underachievement in Urban Students: Pedagogy of Confidence”

Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking-p.222

Equity & Excellence in Today’s Schools Will Most Likely Result From:

Proliferation of the “Pedagogy of Plenty”

High ceilings/High relevance/ High personalization

Struggling and typical

learners

Best practice literacy and

scaffolding

Advanced and advancing

learners

Best practice

Extension of challenge

Retain and extend access to

equity & excellence

Provide access to

equity and excellence

In an environment

of

for

for

in

ord

er

to

in

ord

er

to

Tomlinson

‘03


What would we in terms of instruction

if we made decisions from a position of “advanced” moral or ethical development—

If that were our “North”?

We’d create classrooms that ensure equity of access to excellence for each student.

There is ample reason—in terms of

student demographics, research,

real students, & the ethics of

education to invest in classrooms

that effectively attend to learner

variance.

“...the kind of hope I often think about...I understand above all as a state

of mind, not a state of the world. Either we have hope within us or we

don’t; it is a dimension of the soul, and it’s not essentially dependent on

some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. It is

an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the

world that is immediately experienced and is anchored somewhere beyond

its horizons.

Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things

are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously

headed for early success, but rather, an ability to work for something

because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The

more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper

that hope is. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not

the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that

something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

It is also this hope, above all which gives us the strength to live and

continually to try new things...”

-Vaclav Havel, playwright and defender of human rights, former president of Czechoslovakia

On Hope

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