Pedagogy

The disheartening reality of heightened accountability in education that in traditional education is that too many teachers teach to the middle which means the needs of a growing number of students go unmet (Rock, M., Gregg, M., Ellis, E. Gable, R. (2008), p.32).  Teachers feel the need to narrow the curriculum so they can meet standards.  In REACH A Framework for Differentiating Instruction by Marcia Rock et al., several studies on the effects of differentiated instruction are presented.  In one study, teachers and students who took part in a three week enhanced-curriculum unit in math showed many positive outcomes like level of engagement, excitement about learning and increased motivation.  Another research study used a revised version of Blooms taxonomy to help teachers differentiate instruction and found that teachers expressed confidence in their ability to meets their students differing needs.  Studies on differentiated instruction generally indicate that teachers can exercise a level of flexibility while meeting the need of their students.

One of the strengths of REACH A Framework for Differentiating Classroom Instruction is that it provides the reader with a feasible plan to adopt in a differentiated classroom. The acronym REACH stands for the following reflect on will and skill, evaluate the curriculum, analyze the learners, craft research-based lessons, and hone in on the data. By following the steps in the anagram, teachers can systematically plan lessons that meet the needs of all learners. With the needs of students becoming more diverse, teachers need a tool to implement to insure that students will have their educational needs met and in a way that will allow them to reach proficiency levels set by federal legislation under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. According to the article, when elementary teachers rely mostly on undifferentiated approaches to instruction students had a 79 proficiency on standardized tests at the end of the year. After differentiating instruction for 5 years, the proficiency rate rose to 94.8 (Rock et al., 2008, p. 34). This statistic strongly suggests that utilizing differentiated instruction in the classroom increased students achievement on standards-based assessments.

Literature on differentiated instruction is presents certain limitations to educators who may be interested in implementing differentiated instruction. One drawback is that there are few studies that have been done on differentiated instruction which leads to a lack of empirical evidence on its effectiveness. School leaders tend to want to stick to data-driven strategies. There is a not a one size fits all approach to differentiated instruction. Differentiation can take on many forms in the classroom. Another factor that dissuades people from utilizing differentiation is that the process takes a significant amount of time to prepare.
 
Despite the setbacks found in the literature, differentiated instruction remains a possible strategy for teachers to use to meet the needs of their students in a standards- based educational system. In REACH A Framework for Differentiating Instruction by Marcia Rock et al. several issues are discussed like proficiency, meeting the needs of all learners, either regular or special education students, and how to execute such a theory. The REACH approach discussed in the article gives prospective users of differentiated curriculum a framework of how they should proceed while trying to increase achievement of their students.