Carol Ann Tomlinson

Differentiating Instruction in Response to Student Readiness, Interest, and Learning Profile in Academically Diverse Classrooms: A Review of Literature.

Both the current school reform and standards movements call for enhanced quality of instruction for all learners. Recent emphases on heterogeneity, special education inclusion, and reduction in out-of-class services for gifted learners, combined with escalations in cultural diversity in classrooms, make the challenge of serving academically diverse learners in regular classrooms seem an inevitable part of a teachers role. Nonetheless, indications are that most teachers make few proactive modifications based on learner variance. This review of literature examines a need for “differentiated” or academically responsive instruction. It provides support in theory and research for differentiating instruction based on a model of addressing student readiness, interest, and learning profile for a broad range of learners in mixed-ability classroom settings.

Becoming Architects of Communities of Learning: Addressing Academic Diversity in Contemporary Classrooms

Increasingly, general classroom teachers are expected to be primary service providers for a full range of learners in inclusive classrooms. Research indicates that many veteran teachers are reluctant or unable to differentiate instruction for academically diverse learners in heterogeneous settings. This qualitative study examined the preservice experiences of 70 novice teachers at six university sites to determine conditions that may inhibit or facilitate their progress toward differentiation for academically diverse learners. Themes emerging from this investigation provide important guidelines for assisting beginning teachers in differentiating instruction in inclusive classrooms.

Quality Curriculum and Instruction for Highly Able Students

(2005). Quality Curriculum and Instruction for Highly Able Students. Theory Into Practice: Vol. 44, Gifted Education, pp. 160-166.

The Möbius Effect Addressing Learner Variance in Schools

Currently, educators separate out from typical students those whose learning needs vary from the norm. The norming and sorting process may earmark students as “different” without providing markedly unique instruction and without producing robust academic outcomes. An alternative to fragmentation for some students is the creation of classrooms in which human differences are valued and provided for, yet few teachers (including specialists) seem currently to have the skill or will to develop these sorts of settings. Educators need to examine the potential costs and benefits of alternative approaches to addressing the learning needs that exist among people.

Challenging Expectations: Case Studies of High-Potential, Culturally Diverse Young Children

For an array of complex reasons, minority students and students from low-income backgrounds are typically underrepresented in programs for learners identified as gifted. Project START, a university/school district collaboration, identified and served high-potential, low-income and/or minority, primary age students based on multiple intelligence theory. Instructional and programmatic interventions also included multicultural emphases, language immersion, use of manipulatives, participation in mentorships, and a family outreach program. This article reports findings from eight case studies of START learners, and provides insights into factors that promoted success and discouraged success for these learners, both in the regular classroom and in transition to special services for gifted learners. Minority students, particularly those from tow-income backgrounds, are typically underrepresented in programs for gifted learners (Baldwin, 1994; Frasier & Passow, 1994; U.S. Department of Education, 1993). This is the case for an array of reasons, including: limited and limiting definitions of giftedness, lack of culturally sensitive means of assessing potential, inadequate preparation of teachers in issues and practices related to an increasingly multicultural school population, and lack of awareness among teachers about ways in which potential in culturally diverse populations may be

Good Teaching for One and All: Does Gifted Education Have an Instructional Identity?

Educators of the gifted rationalize offering special curricula for gifted learners based on (a) the nature of the learning environment established for these learners; (b) constructivist principles of content, process, and product; and/or (c) use of a range of instructional strategies associated with programs for gifted learners. General educators find such defenses for gifted education little more than an argument for “good education.” This essay proposes an alternate model of curriculum and instruction suited to advanced learners. Use of such a model should strengthen both educational practice and research focused on talent development in gifted students.

Practices of Preservice Teachers Related to Gifted and Other Academically Diverse Learners

Preservice teachers face formidable tasks of planning and management as they enter the classroom for the first time as professionals. They also bring with them mental imprints of what teaching and leaming are like, images gained not from their professional preparation programs, but from their years as students. Once in the role of teacher, those views may be reinforced by the circumstances of their apprenticeship. This qualitative study reports five themes in the preservice teaching experience of 10 preservice teachers which may reinforce traditional views of schooling and discourage understanding and addressing unique learning needs of academically diverse learners such as gifted, remedial, and special education learners.

Gifted learners: The boomerang kids of middle school?

A variety of beliefs and practices which are central to middle schools tend to have a boomerang effect on gifted learners, causing them difficulties that middle schools hope to alleviate for other learners. These beliefs and practices often focus on potentially competing goals of student competence vs. student excellence and include such things as grouping, cooperative learning, beliefs about learning and middle school students, what constitutes gifted education, and an absence of clearly defined middle school curricula. It is important to understand how these beliefs and practices work against gifted middle schoolers and what can be done to reverse their negative effects.

Bridging the Gap: A Tool and Technique to Analyze and Evaluate Gifted Education Curricular Units

Research on the quality of educational standards, our knowledge about the quality of textbooks, and the performance of high-achieving students on international assessments all point to the need for exemplary curricula for gifted and talented young people. The gap between research in these areas and the needs of gifted and talented learners is startlingly clear. This article includes information about the development of a rubric that was originally designed to assess the quality of curricular units that are submitted annually to the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Curriculum Divisions Curriculum Competition. The article also includes information about 4 different, but related, uses for the rubric. Ultimately, we hope that the use of this tool and assessment technique by practitioners across the country will begin to close the enormous gap between the learning needs of gifted and talented young people and curricula.

Action Research and Practical Inquiry: An Overview and an Invitation to Teachers of Gifted Learners

Action research is a method of systematically investigating classroom procedures and practices with an eye toward improving the quality of action in the schools. Teachers may use action research or practical inquiry in the course of their professional practice as a way of understanding teaching more fully, identifying and addressing classroom problems, extending their professionalism, and contributing to the field of education. This article provides background on, definitions of, and guidance for conducting action research. It also serves as a call for submitting to this journal reports from action research and practical inquiry for review and possible publication in JEG.