Try DI! High 5

Principle-driven Differentiated Instruction exists where evidence supports that:

• Principle 1: Teachers are students of their students.

• Principle 2: Teachers share the responsibility of creating the conditions for success by partnering with students.

• Principle 3: Teachers use qualitative and quantitative data to lead students to an increasing awareness of their readiness, interests, and learning profile.

• Principle 4: Teacher’s approach conveys to students that learner diversity is understood, planned for, and welcomed.

• Principle 5: Teachers ensure all students know that their success is defined by maximal individual growth in relation to standards.

This short list of principles, even with variations, would be evident in virtually all classrooms where DI is practiced. Isolated principles can be demonstrated consistently in numerous ways; perhaps they could all be demonstrated various times in a school year. But teachers who fully embrace a DI approach strive to consistently increase student engagement by acting on principles such as those provided.