Differentiation in diverse settings: a consultants experiences in two similar school districts

School Administrator, August, 2004 by Carol Ann Tomlinson

* a common desire among all personnel in the department of curriculum and instruction to increase their personal and collective knowledge of, understanding about and skills in differentiation;

* the willingness of those leaders to prepare for leadership with a commitment of at least five years for that process;

* an agreement among the leaders to collaborate across program areas to ensure success of the change process.

The goals and assumptions evolved from leadership discussions and agreements. Still focusing on district-level leaders, a plan to develop leadership capacity for differentiation reflected variance among the leaders in current comfort both with differentiation and with public leadership roles.

Leaders at a more basic point of entry into the process would begin with guided book studies to dispel misperceptions about differentiation and develop fundamental understandings about the concept. Leaders at a somewhat more advanced point of entry would begin creating staff development materials that could be used by the full cadre of central-office leaders, principals and building support personnel to guide teachers in developing understanding of and abilities to implement differentiation in their classrooms.

The group of leaders most advanced in comfort and competency with differentiation would begin developing differentiated curriculum and differentiated staff development plans. Development of differentiated curriculum avoids the immense pitfall of leaving hundreds of teachers on their own to apply principles of differentiation through curriculum modification. In addition, building-level specialists in a wide range of program areas will be ready to help teachers understand and implement the differentiated curriculum in their classrooms. Further, that process will be part of a loop that enables leaders in curriculum and instruction to continually refine curriculum in response to needs of teachers and students.

To facilitate staff development that is appropriately differentiated in response to teachers' readiness levels, leaders developed a continuum that describes likely attributes of teachers as they progress through four stages of proficiency with differentiation. Also, the continuum notes the kind of support teachers are likely to need at each stage of growth in regard to differentiation. Further, teacher staff development is available through book studies, videos and guides developed by the district, building and district sessions with materials provided by the central office to assist in preparing for the sessions, conference attendance, department meetings and classroom consultation.

Internal Direction

Once exploratory discussions about differentiation evolved into a direction advocated by the superintendent, central-office leaders involved principals in regular discussions about needs for the approach, articulated plans and building implications. To facilitate this process, central-office leaders developed a document for principals organized around key questions about differentiation as it relates to Waterside. The document states a rationale for the approach given the needs of the district, defines differentiation, delineates its key components and purposes for the components, explains a model for differentiation the district will use and outlines key principles of differentiation. The document ends with a position statement that Hilltop believes curriculum and instruction must be differentiated in response to students' levels of readiness, interests and learning preferences in order for all students to achieve maximum growth and individual success.