One of our goals at St. Joseph is to use differentiation techniques in all classrooms. We have had over ½ of our staff members trained in Differentiation.   

WHAT IS CURRICULUM DIFFERENTIATION?

"In differentiated instruction, classroom teachers make vigorous attempts to meet students where they are in the learning process and move them along as quickly and as far as possible in the context of a mixed-ability classroom.  It promotes high-level and powerful curriculum for all students, but varies the level of teacher support, task complexity, pacing, and avenues to learning based on student readiness, interest, and learning profile.

Differentiation seems a common-sense approach to addressing the needs of a wide variety of learners, promoting equity and excellence and focusing on best practice instruction in mixed ability classrooms.

Differentiated instruction is not a strategy. It is a total way of thinking about learners, teaching, and learning."

Carol Ann Tomlinson, The Education Digest, Jan. 2000