While students with learning disabilities and English language learners often have interventions targeted to their individual needs, it’s not uncommon for schools to take a one-size-fits-all approach to academic growth and instruction. But in many respects, this is a flawed approach when the purpose is to ensure the continued progress of all students. Every student is unique—with different learning styles, abilities and knowledge—and must be continually challenged in how they learn best.
True differentiation for each student is not easy because of a lack of funding, resources, and time constraints, however, with a little creativity, it can be done using existing resources and requiring little to no additional money. States and school districts across the nation are facing budget ceilings and cuts.
Almost 90% of public school districts struggled to hire teachers for the current school year. This should not be a surprise since there are at least 55,000 vacant positions, enrollment is down for teacher certification programs, and more teachers than ever are leaving the profession.
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Targeted programs for special education and gifted students also face similar issues. Growing about 12% over the past decade, more than seven million students in U.S. public schools now qualify for educational services under the IDEA law, yet federal funding has remained stagnant or even decreased when accounting for inflation, according to the National Association of Elementary School Principals. And, very few states fully fund gifted education, despite it being mandated in 38 states.
So, given the realities that school districts face, how can they provide the best opportunities for all students to succeed? Consider these four steps that schools and teachers can take to meet all students where they are and provide them with opportunities for academic growth.
1. Consider results of both achievement and abilities tests
If your school offers achievement tests, such as MAP, and abilities tests, like CogAT(R), it is possible to get a more holistic view of students. Data from these tests can be combined to provide important insights to teachers, helping inform instructional decisions and using students’ potential and strengths to increase academic growth.
By looking at students holistically, schools can shift intervention strategies from deficit thinking to strengths-based thinking, and focus on true student growth, rather than bright-line achievement goals.
2. Leverage professional learning communities
Collaboration in PLCs lets educators share ideas that enhance teaching practices and create an optimal learning environment. The model for PLCs typically focuses on four questions:
- What do we want students to learn?
- How will we know when they’ve learned it?
- What will we do when they do not learn it?
- What will we do when they already know it?
But in some respects, these questions are out of order. With a focus on strength-based learning, teachers should shift PLC time to address question four—what students already know—using pre-assessment and formative data to ensure all students receive instruction at their current point of need. Then they can use question three to scaffold the learning and develop strategies that allow students to continue progressing, rather than biding time until more challenging content is presented.
3. Cluster students and be flexible with groupings
In most schools, the typical classroom has a mix of students with unique abilities, knowledge, and experience, all learning at a different pace. This can present a challenge, when certain students need more interventions, while others are prepared to move on to the next lesson. Cluster models can help address this dichotomy, strategically placing students in groups that allow teachers to more easily meet each group’s instructional needs and position all students for maximum growth.
Schools can build master schedules that allow flexible grouping across classes and grades and embed acceleration opportunities. Schools also should provide ongoing training to help teachers understand differentiation and flexible grouping strategies to achieve optimal results.
4. Support academic acceleration
For students who may be considered gifted or excel in a specific subject, academic acceleration can move them through content or courses earlier and more quickly than their peers. When students are ready to learn something new but are held back because of the pace of the general classrooms, they can become disengaged and their social-emotional well-being and academic progress can be damaged.
Schools should create and implement policies to support academic acceleration. Clustering, for example, could allow teachers to group students with similar strengths, positioning classes to accommodate acceleration. Educators can use talent spotting to identify students who may benefit from a high-achievement group in a particular subject area. These subtle changes can help schools reduce instructional opportunities lost to unnecessary repetition and meet high-ability students’ academic and social-emotional needs.
By taking these four steps, schools and teachers can more effectively address all students’ various skills, abilities and learning styles. Applying the combination of achievement and abilities testing data, collaborating in PLCs, and clustering students to support appropriate interventions and accelerated learning provides a strong foundation to ensure that teachers can meet students where they are and foster their academic growth appropriately.
