You Can't Rush Differentiated Instruction

Even though you're excited about differentiated instruction (DI) and in a hurry to get it implemented, when you're implementing DI in your district, state, or region, it doesn't pay to rush, according to Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Drawing on her experiences with several national research studies and consulting on a long-term basis with a number of districts, Tomlinson offered district- and state-level educators valuable guidelines for implementing DI:

• Don't be in such a hurry to get the concrete part of the job done--equipping teachers with the instructional strategies--so that teachers don't understand the philosophy.
  Administrators often have one definition of DI and teachers another. Everyone needs to have the same definition, vision, and understanding of what DI is. Teachers can't succeed in differentiating if they don't understand the philosophy and can't articulate it.
  
  Understanding the philosophy opens the teachers' eyes to the possibilities and flexibility inherent in an effectively differentiated classroom. For example, this understanding allows teachers to see how truly knowing the students is critical to designing instruction and selecting strategies that are appropriate for students' current needs, rather than just picking instruction and strategies because they sound good.



• Differentiation challenges many of the traditional structures of schooling.
  You can change action by demanding it, but unless you change teachers' belief systems, there's no longevity or real implementation of the change.
  
  For example, having all students work on the same task at the same time is a traditional structure of schooling. If you ask teachers to use contracts, where students work on different tasks and select the sequence and time to work on them, that request would be counter to the belief systems of many of those teachers.
  
  Teachers' belief systems need to change before teachers will understand and really implement new practices such as contracts.



• Implementing differentiated instruction is a complex change and requires many years for a teacher to achieve (anywhere from 7 to 15 years).
  At the district or state level, there needs to be a continuous program to support implementation, due to the ever-changing population of teachers.



• The principal of a school is the gatekeeper of change.
  It is critical that you attend to developing and supporting the principal's needs and understanding of differentiation as much as the teachers' needs and understanding in order for change to happen.

Related Resources
Leadership for Differentiating Schools & Classrooms
by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Susan Demirsky Allan
Learn how to encourage and support teachers who are striving to match their instructional approaches to the needs and interests of every student.

Differentiated Instruction Professional Development Planner and Resource Package (Stage 1)
Here's a practical, comprehensive resource package plus a differentiated instruction planner.

Differentiated Instruction Professional Development Planner and Resource Package (Stage 2)
If your staff members are already familiar with differentiated instruction, this is the ideal resource for following through with your improvement plan.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.