Capturing the complexity of differentiated instruction

Abstract

Providing differentiated instruction (DI) is considered an important but complex teaching skill which many teachers have not mastered and feel unprepared for. In order to design professional development activities, a thorough description of DI is required. The international literature on assessing teachers' differentiation qualities describes the use of various instruments, ranging from self-reports to observation schemes and from perceived-difficulty instruments to student questionnaires. We question whether these instruments truly capture the complexity of differentiation. In order to depict this complexity, a cognitive task analysis (CTA) of the differentiation skill was performed. The resulting differentiation skill hierarchy is presented here, together with the knowledge required for differentiation, and the factors influencing its complexity. Based on the insights of this CTA, professional development trajectories can be designed and a comprehensive assessment instrument can be developed, enabling researchers and practitioners to train, assess, and monitor teaching quality with respect to providing differentiated instruction.

Differentiated Instruction in Secondary Education: A Systematic Review of Research Evidence

“…For example, using vignette or video tests (Vogt and Rogalla, 2009; Bruhwiler and Blatchford, 2011) or by means of teacher logs or observations (Little et al, 2014). Enriching measures of teacher behavior with information about the match of the behavior with students' needs may be another step forward (Van Geel et al, 2019). We would like to recommend authors to further develop, evaluate and apply measures for differentiated instruction that can be used to gain insight in how differentiated instruction is linked to various student outcomes.…”

“…As noted above, differentiated instruction during the lesson is in fact only one piece of the mosaic (Tomlinson, 1999). There are a lot of other steps that are crucial for successful implementation of differentiated instruction (Keuning et al, 2017; Van Geel et al, 2019). Table 1 shows other behaviors that are related to what teachers do in the classroom.…”

“…Nevertheless, high quality differentiated instruction is based on the frequent assessment of learning needs and flexible adaptations to meet those needs. Prior to the lesson including differentiated instruction, teachers should have clear goals for their students, use some form of pre-assessment , and plan their adaptive instruction (Prast et al, 2015; Keuning et al, 2017; Van Geel et al, 2019). Then, teachers proceed to the actual differentiated instruction during the lesson .…”

Student Perceptions in Measuring Teaching Behavior Across Six Countries: A Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis Approach to Measurement Invariance

“…Findings from classroom observation studies in various international contexts using this and similar teaching behavior frameworks show similar patterns of teaching behavior complexity levels, with differentiation appearing to be the most difficult skill to display in classroom teaching in Netherlands (e.g., van de Grift et al, 2014), Germany (Pietsch, 2010). The complexity of differentiation is well-documented in the literature of teaching (van Geel et al, 2019).…”

How Reading Motivation and Engagement Enable Reading Achievement: Policy Implications

“…Gaining knowledge of students’ reading proclivities and interests is also a critical step in building motivation and engagement support into the classroom. Just as teachers are taught to plan for leveled or individualized reading instruction (Van Geel et al, 2018), they need to think through how motivation practices fit individual differences within a classroom (e.g., the teen who devalues reading because they see no place for it in their life vs. the adolescent English Learner who values reading, but has low self-efficacy for reading on-grade texts). To do this, teachers may administer surveys of students’ motivations, interests, and reading habits (see Davis et al, 2018, for available instruments).…”