Issue

Given the increasingly diverse student population schools today are challenged to serve, we should not still be asking whether it is feasible to provide for student diversity in heterogeneous classes. The question at hand is how we can best respond to student diversity so that outcome standards are upheld for every student, including the most difficult to teach and most challenging to motivate.Implementing programs that address the diverse needs of students in regular classrooms is often complicated by programmatic, administrative, attitudinal, and fiscal roadblocks. Nevertheless, we know what to do and how to do it. The key consideration is whether we are willing to support an inclusive approach to providing for student diversity by radically changing our policies, the way we organize schools, and the way we think about differences among students.To meet the diverse needs of all students, we must apply the best of what is known about effective instruction and schools. We must also structure school resources in ways that allow flexibility—in teaming among regular and specialist staff, in scheduling and space arrangements, and in the use of curricular resources. And we must forge linkages among school staff, parents, and the community to enable educators to devote the needed resources and expertise to students who require extraordinary support in the regular curriculum, while providing all students with the best possible opportunities to succeed in learning.—Margaret Wang directs Temple University's Center for Research in Human Development and Education and the U.S. Department of Education's National Center on Education in the Inner Cities.

In heterogeneous classrooms, students have different learning styles, abilities, and needs. Many modifications can be made to accommodate these differences.One approach is to diversify instruction to address various learning styles. A teacher might provide hands-on experiences, group work, and experiments. Student products might include creative writing, inventions, and debate. To be most effective, however, this variety should encompass all subject areas.Another strategy is to maintain flexible grouping within the classroom. Ability groups should be "fluid" in structure, allowing students to flow in and out based on their mastery of skills in different subjects. Groups based on a common interest allow students with varied abilities to work together. Establishing groups by random selection allows students with varying interests and abilities to learn from one another.The Dimensions of Learning model is ideal for accomplishing these two strategies. It is student-oriented, giving learners a sense of responsibility for their own learning through choices. The model explains how teachers can address different abilities and interests within any classroom environment. Lifelong learning skills—important to all learning styles—are developed through tasks that promote the meaningful use of knowledge.Although such modifications are most often associated with heterogeneous classrooms, they also apply to homogeneous classes. Both are filled with individuals who have individual needs.—Glenna Tabor is a teacher and staff development trainer in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Yes. It's not only feasible, but essential. We have ample evidence that one-size-fits-all instruction fails to fit many learners. Heterogeneous classrooms include students who are learning disabled; who learn slowly; who are advanced in a given subject; who come from various cultures, bringing with them differing views of the world that profoundly affect how they learn and relate to school; and who have different learning styles. To assume that all children of a given age need to learn the same thing in the same way, at the same pace, shows no better understanding of the variability in children's growth and development than to assume that all children of a given age need the same amount of food or the same sized clothing.Teachers should begin differentiating instruction by identifying the key concepts and understandings in the lesson or unit. All learners should focus on those elements because they carry with them the structure of the information, and power for future learning. All learners should also have experiences that cause them to comprehend—as well as to work—at higher levels of thought.Using key concepts and generalizations as a basis for planning, teachers can modify content, sense-making activities, and products by adjusting many factors—their complexity, abstractness, pacing, independence level, open-endedness, and mode of expression—to accommodate student readiness, interests, and learning styles. Instructional strategies such as compacting, tiered activities, learning contracts, interest centers, negotiated product criteria, independent study, and portfolios are helpful in managing a differentiated classroom.—Carol Ann Tomlinson is assistant professor of education at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Some schools and programs are going beyond modifying instruction by attempting to change the "lockstep" system. The nongraded Primary Program in British Columbia is making systemwide changes. Student progress is continuous, with students taking an active role in their own learning. In the classroom, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and evaluation become interactive processes.Teachers offer students choice in how they work (cooperative groups; peer tutoring; individual, small-group, and whole-group instruction), what they work on (open-ended and negotiated tasks and learning plans), and how they represent their learning (differing kinds of work products). Curriculum remains constant; how it unfolds in the classroom is integrated and wholistic.Teachers must know how students learn, what learning is appropriate, and when it is best learned. Assessments guide instruction. Evaluation is based on standards of child development (organized from birth through 13 years). Through self-evaluation, students learn to recognize their accomplishments, identify learning needs, and share in the responsibility for their own learning.Systemwide testing must be reflective of, and congruent with, program values. The understanding and support of policymakers is critical if such programs are to last.—Lois Blackmore is one of the writers of the Primary Program and teaches at Macaulay School in Victoria, British Columbia.