Differentiated Instruction

Differentiation is not creating separate lessons for every student. It is designing one lesson with intentional entry points, flexible pathways, and multiple ways to demonstrate mastery - same objective for all, different paths to it. The costly failure it prevents is quiet tracking: struggling students fed only low-complexity work are being denied grade-level learning while the paperwork says they were "supported."

Operating procedure

Step 1: Gather inputs

Collect before modifying anything; label unknowns as guesses to verify with a formative check:

• The original lesson or unit, its learning objective, and the core task as written.
• The readiness spread, from recent formative assessment data - not historical placement or last year's labels. If no data newer than three weeks exists, run a short formative probe first; differentiating on stale data re-creates the ability groups it is supposed to replace.
• Known learning needs (IEP/504 accommodations, language support) and rough group sizes per readiness band.
• What the teacher can actually manage: number of simultaneous versions, para/aide availability, time to prepare.

Step 2: Protect the core task

Identify the core task every student will do, at the full learning objective. This is the anchor; everything else is scaffold or extension. If a proposed modification changes what is being learned rather than how it is accessed, reject it - that is dilution, not differentiation.