Differentiating K-12 Instruction for Students at All Levels of Ability
In differentiated instruction, teachers adjust curriculum and content delivery to optimize learning for all students within a general education classroom. Through differentiated instruction in K-12, teachers provide appropriate instruction for students at all levels of ability: below-target students, on-target students, above-target students, English language learners, and students with disabilities.
Research supports the use of differentiated instruction to improve student learning for students with and without disabilities.
Introduction to differentiation
Carol Ann Tomlinson is a former elementary and secondary public-school teacher and a professor at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and Human Development. Tomlinson is a renowned expert on differentiation—she has authored 17 books and over 200 articles on the topic.
Tomlinson recommends that teachers differentiate instruction based on student readiness (i.e., a student’s capacity to perform a task—which may be greater than their demonstrated ability), student interest (i.e., engagement with content stemming from a student’s personality or experiences), and student learning profile (i.e., the most efficient and effective way to promote an individual student’s understanding). Teachers should cluster, or group, students based on one or more of the above three criteria.
To create clusters of students within the classroom (e.g., a group of students with a similar readiness level, a group of students with similar interests), Tomlinson suggests that teachers should consistently and frequently assess students.
Strategy #1: Assessment
Tomlinson documents three types of assessments that teachers use in the classroom to support student learning: pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments. Of these three, Tomlinson notes that pre-assessments and formative assessments provide the most useful information for differentiated instruction in K-12.
Overview of Pre- and Formative Assessments Suggested by Tomlinson
Pre-Assessment
- Diagnostic assessments designed to determine initial student mastery of unit learning goals (KUDs) and to evaluate important prerequisite knowledge for the unit
- Gives the teacher a sense of the range of individual student needs in the class relative to KUDs, before the teacher begins instruction
- Administered before a unit begins (or shortly into the unit if the content is likely to be new to students)
- Tightly aligned with unit KUDs
- Samples key KUDs; not intended to be lengthy or exhaustive
- Can use a variety of formats, including writing prompts, graphic organizers, etc.
- Not graded
Formative Assessment
- Tightly aligned with KUDs, with particular emphasis on KUDs for the most recent lesson(s)
- Helps the teacher understand how each student’s development for each KUD is progressing so the teacher can clearly plan next steps for the class as a whole, for small groups of students, and for individuals
- Administered multiple times throughout a unit
- Can use a variety of formats such as exit cards, journal entries, and systematic teacher conversations with individual students
- Rarely graded, but can provide clear, important feedback that helps a student determine next steps in learning
Tomlinson emphasizes that teachers should use assessments to understand students’ development in accordance with learning goals (KUDs). This approach allows teachers to promote differentiated instruction in K-12 primarily based on student readiness. In addition, however, Tomlinson notes that teachers can use pre- and formative assessments to understand student interests and learning profiles.
Strategy #2: Skills-based grouping
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READ NOWTomlinson suggests that teachers use information from pre- and formative assessments to assign students to clusters. According to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) it is “impossible” and “unwieldy” to differentiate instruction without first assigning students to small groups. Grouping allows teachers to target instruction based on student skills and needs, thereby providing appropriate opportunities for all students.
EAB’s research study Narrowing the Third Grade Reading Gap profiles best practices to group elementary school students for literacy instruction. EAB researchers included one of these practices—skills-based grouping—below. Teachers should implement skills-based grouping to deliver differentiated elementary-level reading instruction. Teachers may consider skills-based grouping for differentiated instruction in K-12 at other levels and for other subjects.
Traditional student grouping for reading instruction often masks reading needs
Teachers often design elementary school reading groups around non-specific reading levels and average benchmark scores using universal screeners. Although these data help identify which students may need more intensive instructional support, it does not provide sufficient insight into the precise nature of students’ skill deficits. As a result, students assigned to groups through this “one-size-fits-all” intervention approach are less likely to achieve meaningful gains in their reading progress. For example, when teachers rely on non-specific data to group students, 50% of interventions teach concepts that students have already mastered. In addition, 22% of students who develop serious reading difficulties remain undetected.
To create student groupings that will maximize the effectiveness of differentiated instruction in K-12, teachers should not rely solely on universal screening benchmarks to create groups. Instead, teachers should also incorporate student scores from diagnostics that identify specific student skill gaps. Diagnostics serve as a pre-assessments that allow teachers to understand students’ mastery of specific skills prior to delivering instruction.
Implement skills-based grouping in five, best-practice steps to effectively differentiate elementary school reading instruction
By grouping students based on skill-deficits, teachers can better ensure that differentiated instruction is relevant to all students within each group. Teachers should continually assess students—through formative assessments or repeated diagnostics—to document mastery and subsequently revise student groupings. EAB’s Skills-Based Grouping Toolkit includes a skills-based grouping audit, which provides detailed implementation guidance for successful skills-based grouping.
Implementing skills-based grouping
1. Employ universal screener
2. Assess needs using diagnostic
3. Organize student groups by skills
4. Match intervention to need
5. Use diagnostic to assess mastery
EAB’s best-practice research demonstrates that teachers should use information about student mastery from formative assessments to adjust skills-based groupings on a regular basis. For example, a 2012 Educational Leadership article reports that, in fourth and fifth grade math classrooms at a Philadelphia school, any student interested in moving to a more advanced group can do so based on their performance on formative assessments.
Integrate differentiation and instruction with content-, process-, and product-based strategies
Once teachers have assessed and grouped students, Tomlinson recommends that teachers use three further, overarching strategies to differentiate instruction. Through these strategies, teachers can continuously embed differentiation within their instructional approach, because they align with the three major components of instruction: content (i.e., the material students need to learn), process (i.e., students’ actions taken to learn the material), and product (i.e., how students demonstrate mastery). Tomlinson emphasizes that teachers should plan for differentiated instruction in K-12 whenever they plan for instruction.
3 strategies to differentiate instruction
Content-based differentiation
Teachers expose students to different facets of unit material and/or to different levels of complexity—different versions of the same curriculum, related to the same learning goals.
Process-based differentiation
Teachers assign students to different activities and exercises designed to help students learn the same curriculum. In other words, teachers vary the ways in which students practice.
Product-based differentiation
Teachers allow students to choose the way through which they demonstrate their progress toward learning goals at the end of a unit.
Strategy #3: Content-based differentiation
Teachers can use content-based differentiated instruction in K-12 to present students with a version of a unit’s material that is best aligned to students’ readiness, interest, and/or learning profile. To ensure that students master the same standards regardless of any variations in content, Tomlinson recommends several research-backed tactics. These tactics empower teachers to present the same, core standards to all students (both struggling learners and advanced learners) in different ways based primarily on students’ readiness, but also based on students’ interest and learning profile.
| Tactic | Description | Example | Implementation |
| Tiered content | Students participate in the same activity, but teachers differentiate the complexity of the concepts that the activity covers. | Students complete one of three different versions of a worksheet. The versions vary by difficulty of questions. | Use student readiness to assign students to a level of challenge. |
| Providing a variety of materials | Teachers provide multiple options for students to access information. These options may vary in level of complexity or may align with different student interests/learning styles. | Teachers supplement textbook readings with online resources and videos. | Use student readiness, interest, and/or learning profile to create a variety of materials. |
| Scaffolding | Teachers provide additional guidance for struggling learners. For these students, teachers adapt the content by incorporating targeted supports and then gradually removing those supports as students gain mastery. | For a student with difficulty comprehending texts, teachers guide the student through a series of knowledge-building and reflection exercises before, during, and after reading. |
Use student readiness to provide different degrees of scaffolding—students who are below-target require additional supports. |
| Compacting | Teachers adapt content by varying the pacing of material. Students with advanced skills or knowledge complete units more quickly and use remaining time for more complicated or in-depth activities. | Teachers allow students who score 90% or higher on a pre-unit assessment to skip all or a portion of the unit’s content. Teachers create a plan for students to learn any unmastered portion of the unit and to provide enrichment activities. | Use student readiness to qualify students for compacted curriculum. |
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Strategy #4: Process-based differentiation
During process-based differentiated instruction in K-12, students complete different activities, practice techniques, and exercises to learn unit standards. Teachers differentiate processes primarily based on students’ readiness, but teachers can also consider student interest and learning profile.
| Tactic | Description | Example | Implementation |
| Tiered activities | Students participate in different activities, related to the same content, with varying levels of complexity. | After reading a chapter, the below-target student group works on comprehension, the on-target student group works on analysis, and the above-target student group works on synthesis of the chapter’s content. | Use student readiness to assign students to activities. |
| Learning centers | Teachers create areas of the classroom with different focuses. Students assigned to each area can work through material in groups or pairs, but students often work independently. Students stay in their assigned center to complete their work. | During a class lesson on metamorphosis, the teacher creates three different learning centers for students based on readiness: • Below-target: Students describe each stage of a butterfly’s life cycle • At target: Students record three characteristics of each stage of a butterfly’s life cycle • Above target: Students record five characteristics of each stage of a butterfly’s and frog’s lifestyle, and then compare the two. |
Use student readiness, interest, and/or learning profile to assign students to centers. |
| Jigsaw activities | Groups of students each learn a component of a lesson’s overall content. Students work cooperatively to teach other groups their area of “expertise.” | Over the course of several class periods, groups of five-to-six students each research an assigned area of “expertise” related to the same overarching topic. At the end of the unit, students present their findings to the other groups. | Use student readiness and/or interest to assign students to an area of “expertise.” |
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Strategy #5: Product-based differentiation
“Products” refer to the culminating assignment or assessment for a unit of study. Teachers can use product-based differentiated instruction in K-12 to assess student mastery while still allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways. Product-based differentiation encourages teachers to allow students to opt for alternatives to traditional, written tests in accordance with their level of readiness, interest, and learning profile.
Tomlinson explains that students can still achieve high scores on standardized tests, even if they opt for a differentiated product (i.e., an alternative to a traditional test or paper) to demonstrate their knowledge throughout the year. When students learn and demonstrate their knowledge in the way that best matches their readiness, interest, and learning profile, they learn more and build confidence in their abilities. These outcomes, in turn, may positively impact student performance during standardized testing.
Example product-based differentiation tactic: Tic-tac-toe
Using the following table, students choose three boxes and complete the product described in the box. Teachers may require students to choose three products that form a line, or one choice from each row and column. This allows students to select product options that align with their interests and learning profile. In some instances, teachers can create multiple tables with different levels of product challenge to further differentiate by student readiness.
"Romeo and Juliet" final activity options
- Write an essay comparing and contrasting yourself to one of the major characters.
- Create a list of at least five interview questions to ask Romeo or Juliet about what the reader should learn from their experiences. Record both questions and answers.
- Now that you’ve read Romeo and Juliet and watched West Side Story, create a play that features Romeo and Juliet and is set in modern times.
- Choose your favorite scene and describe how the setting affects the mood of the play.
- Choose your favorite scene and create a detailed scaled model of it.
- Choose your favorite scene and write an essay describing the differences in the settings of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story.
- List five well-known quotes from the play.
- List the character who said the quote and describe how each quote relates to a major theme of the play.
- Create a table that compares and contrasts the Montagues and Capulets with the Hatfields and McCoys. Create a video trailer for a new version of the movie Romeo and Juliet.
Accompanying strategy: Universal design for learning
Neuroscientists developed the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework in the 1990s to optimize teaching and learning for all people. Based on the idea that students learn in diverse ways, UDL’s three guiding principles ask educators to provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression in the classroom. In this way, UDL and differentiation embody a similar philosophy—both acknowledge that different students need to take different paths to achieve learning goals. Under the UDL framework, teachers do not necessarily assign students to different content, processes, or products. Instead, students themselves choose the path that best fits them.
UDL principles and examples
For resourceful, knowledgeable learners, present information and content in different ways.
A teacher can:
- Summarize assignment out loud
- Distribute hard copies of assignments to class
For purposeful, motivated learners, stimulate interest and motivation for learning.
A student can:
- Read textbook chapters out loud in pairs to engage with the material
- Read primary sources independently to spark interest in the content
- Listen to an audiobook to experience non-visual learning
For strategic, goal-directed learners, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know.
A student can:
- Give an oral presentation
- Write a paper
- Create a poster
To implement UDL, teachers plan lessons to fully engage students on the margins of each class (i.e., the highest performing students and the lowest performing students or students with disabilities) and therefore create a richer learning environment for all students. By including options for high achievers and for struggling students within each lesson, teachers challenge and create inclusive learning opportunities for every student in the classroom.
Educational consultant and UDL expert Katie Novak compares teaching a class of students to preparing a meal for dinner party attendees with a variety of dietary restrictions. When teachers differentiate instruction, they prepare a different menu for each attendee. When teachers use UDL, they provide a buffet of all the different menu items so that attendees can select the right meal for them. UDL, therefore, is inherently differentiated—UDL can provide support and a valuable framework for teachers to effectively implement differentiated instruction.
Universal design for learning and
other inclusive practices
Review our research on the UDL implementation process and related teacher professional development opportunities at four profiled districts.
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