Is differentiated instruction a hollow promise?

It looks to me as if one of the most acclaimed reforms of today’s education profession—not just in the U.S. but also all over the planet—is one of the least examined in terms of actual implementation and effectiveness. How often and how well do instructors, whose administrators and gurus revere the concept of differentiated instruction, actually carry it out? How well does it work and for which kids under what circumstances? So far as I can tell, nobody really knows.

I’ve been roaming the globe in search of effective strategies for educating high-ability youngsters, particularly kids from disadvantaged circumstances who rarely have parents with the knowledge and means to steer them through the education maze and obtain the kind of schooling (and/or supplementation or acceleration) that will make the most of their above-average capacity to learn.

As expected, I’ve found a wide array of programs and policies intended for “gifted education,” “talent development,” and so forth, each with pluses and minuses.

But almost everywhere, I’ve also encountered some version of this assertion: “We don’t really need to provide special programs, classrooms, or schools for gifted children because we expect every school and teacher to differentiate their instruction so as to meet the unique educational needs of all children within an inclusive, heterogeneous classroom.”

Veteran “gifted educators” whom I respect say things like this: “Many gifted children’s needs can be met in the regular classroom, if grouped with academic peers for part of the day and if under the reign of a very gifted teacher. The likelihood of getting a very gifted teacher is, however, too small.” And, “Talent development happens through an acceleration of a curriculum.  Differentiation doesn't typically address the needs of very highly able children.”

Perhaps it can—and there are schools and classrooms that try hard. Yet when a colleague of mine visited one Maryland school that puts meticulous differentiation high among its priorities, he reported back that these arrangements look awfully “rickety, held with lots of duct tape and chewing gum, and subject to collapse without just the right staff and parent support.” (And that’s at the elementary level; all of this grows vastly harder in the upper grades.)

http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/is-differentiated-instruction-a-hollow-promise

Here is a little kept secret. despite all the "creationism" controversy in Kansas, many counties in this state have a good school system. Many "cities" have magnet schools and IB programs - admission for which is based on entrance test. Also, elementary school kids - on the recommendation of the teachers - are tested for gifted program. Those kids are handled differently. Rarely, a kid is even moved ahead to a higher class.

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:Here is a little kept secret. despite all the "creationism" controversy in Kansas, many counties in this state have a good school system. Many "cities" have magnet schools and IB programs - admission for which is based on entrance test. Also, elementary school kids - on the recommendation of the teachers - are tested for gifted program. Those kids are handled differently. Rarely, a kid is even moved ahead to a higher class.

but the question is how useful are those programs, from my personal experience not much other than equipping parents with bragging rights.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:Here is a little kept secret. despite all the "creationism" controversy in Kansas, many counties in this state have a good school system. Many "cities" have magnet schools and IB programs - admission for which is based on entrance test. Also, elementary school kids - on the recommendation of the teachers - are tested for gifted program. Those kids are handled differently. Rarely, a kid is even moved ahead to a higher class.

but the question is how useful are those programs, from my personal experience not much other than equipping parents with bragging rights.

In my view:

the outcome is good and even better in these magnet schools going by their onward movement (not just based on desi kids). I think, the magnet and gifted programs bring together better motivated students - thus providing a vastly improved and competitive environment. This is not very different different from selective admissions that are practiced in well established schools in Indian cities.