Both the current school reform and standards movements call for enhanced quality of instruction for all learners. Recent emphases on heterogeneity, special education inclusion, and reduction in out-of-class services for gifted learners, combined with escalations in cultural diversity in classrooms, make the challenge of serving academically diverse learners in regular classrooms seem an inevitable part of a teacher's role. Nonetheless, indications are that most teachers make few proactive modifications based on learner variance. This review of literature examines a need for "differentiated" or academically responsive instruction. It provides support in theory and research for differentiating instruction based on a model of addressing student readiness, interest, and learning profile for a broad range of learners in mixed-ability classroom settings. Introduction: A Rationale for Differentiating Instruction Today's classrooms are typified by academic diversity (Darling-Hammond, Wise, &. Klein, 1999; Meier, 1995). Seated side by side in classrooms that still harbor a myth of "homogeneity by virtue of chronological age" are students with identified learning problems;

The purpose of this study was to collect reliability and validity data on the School Characteristics Inventory (SCI), a quantitative measure based on Sternberg's (2000) theory of contextual modifiability. Data were collected from a national sample of middle school teachers and from teachers participating in a 3-year study investigating teachers' willingness to implement differentiated instruction or differentiated authentic assessments. Factor analysis indicated 6 factors (School Reputation, General School State, Staff Attitudes, Responsiveness to Change, General Perceptions of the School, and Administration Responsiveness), accounting for 42% of the variance. Reliability estimates of the factors ranged from a low of .76 (Responsiveness to Change) to a high of .94 (School Reputation and SCI Total Scale Score). Quantitative and qualitative data give credence to the reliability and validity of the SCI and tentatively support the organizational modifiability construct theorized by Sternberg.

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