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=Differentiated Instruction=

This wiki was established to support Westmoreland County School Districts with information and resources regarding Differentiated Instruction.

Differentiated Instruction is an instructional concept that maximizes learning for ALL students-regardless of skill level or background. When a teacher differentiates instruction, he or she uses the best teaching practices and strategies to create different pathways that respond to the needs of the diverse learners.

Differentiated Instruction is teaching with student variance in mind. It means starting where the kids are rather than adopting a standardized approach to teaching that seems to presume that all learners of a given age or grade are essentially alike. It is responsive teaching.

A fuller definition of differentiated instruction is that a teacher proactively plans varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they can express what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can as efficiently as possible. (Tomlinson, 2003)