STUDENT READINESS AND BACKGROUND

All students are different. They learn differently, and they learn uniquely. To effectively differentiate instruction, you must recognize that each student has a different background, a different knowledge base/readiness level, a different learning style, and different interests. Even though they are all different, the accountability for all students is the same. Furthermore, the accountability and expectations are very high.  Despite a student’s background or uniqueness, the end result is always expected to be student achievement and student growth. The more often a teacher can integrate activities that individualize learning and cause students to make connections, the more successful one will be as an educator.

Differentiation may be the most challenging and rewarding part of the teaching.  Differentiating instruction provides the vehicle for meeting the needs of all learners while meeting the standards of knowledge and skills identified in the standards.  When aligning your instruction to the level of rigor and content of the standards while addressing varying student needs and backgrounds, much consideration has to be given to classroom environment, student learning styles, interests, levels of achievement, and cultural experiences.  

STUDENT READINESS LEVEL/KNOWLEDGE BASE

Readiness to learn is defined as the students’ skill level, the background knowledge that they have, and their base understanding of what is going to be learned. It’s important to remember that English language learners may learn at a slower speed. Typical language barriers may result in gaps in knowledge due to limited vocabulary. The Indiana Department of Education expects all students to learn and master the standards for their current grade level.  Likewise, it is expected that all students have all the knowledge of all prior grade levels, which makes them ready for the current academic rigor and content.  In reality, many students are unprepared or underprepared for their current level of instruction.  The teacher must determine a child’s prior knowledge or schema.  This can be done by analyzing prior assessment data and/or by giving pre-assessments before instruction begins. 

· What is the student's knowledge base?

· What is the student's performance base?

· What are the student's needs?

· What has to be taught?

· What teaching methods or approaches are most effective?

· What changes or modifications to a lesson are needed to help the student?

Furthermore, readiness to learn describes the individual’s comfort level with any knowledge needed to access new learning. For example, if the last concept that was taught was mastered by a group of students, they are most likely ready to learn new content.  These students have a strong foundation upon which to scaffold new learning.  If some of your students struggled with previous content, they will not be ready to scaffold that learning into new learning.  You may also have students who may have learned the old content, but may have some foundational questions that need to be answered prior to learning new content. 

Each of these readiness levels represents a group of students who have varying degrees of comfort with the prior content and are at varying levels of readiness to learn new content.  By recognizing which of your students fall within which group, you can adjust your lesson plan to meet individual needs. You can then avoid planning a lesson that is way above or below the students’ capabilities.

Let’s look at a couple of learning situations in which the teacher utilizes readiness to learn to create learning groups and learning activities.

Consider an elementary math teacher. One of the math standards is numbers and operations. MAFS.3.NF.1 Develop an understanding of fractions as numbers.

If the teacher taught fractions with a numerator of 1 last week, it is likely that some students did very well on the assessment and truly understand the concept.  Others may have passed the assessment but may have missed some key ideas in the development of fractions.  A few may not have understood the concept at all.  As the teacher is now preparing to teach comparing fractions, he/she can expect that the first group is ready to learn new content with relative ease, the second group will need to clarify questions about comparing unit fractions before learning the new content, and the last group will need re-teaching of unit fractions. 

So the teacher would need to plan a lesson in which students who already understand fractions would have extension activities that would develop even greater understanding.  Students who need more practice would have activities that would continue to develop the concept of unit fractions, and those who need re-teaching would learn the previous concept in a different way.  Only when the majority of the class is ready for new content would the teacher then introduce the new content to the whole class.

You may be wondering what the teacher should do if 1 or 2 students continue to struggle with the content. Surely, you don’t hold the entire class back until those students understand?  Those 1 or 2 students will have additional opportunities throughout the day to continue to practice and learn the content.  There may be a math interventionist that will work with the students one-on-one, or the teacher will find times later in the day to work with students one-on-one.

In a secondary classroom, this would look a bit different.  Since students move to different classes throughout the day, the teacher typically asks students to come for a brief time before or after school for one-on-one tutoring. 

Anytime differentiation occurs based on a student’s readiness level, documentation as formal and anecdotal notes should be kept.  Many times, this information is needed for a student’s Response to Intervention (RTI) process.  The RTI process is utilized to make sure struggling students have a plan of learning that helps him or her to become successful.  The content and amount of time spent in one-on-one or small group settings is vital information for the learning plan of a struggling student in order to determine the quality and quantity of time and content that is most effective for academic success. 

Occasionally, readiness to learn refers to background knowledge.  For example, students who are well-traveled have extensive background knowledge about various countries.  Those students who had not traveled outside of their neighborhood will have limited background knowledge and thus will need additional information before they can access the content.

STUDENT BACKGROUND

In the public schools, all students are accepted and expected to learn.  A child’s background can be widespread and include many elements like ethnicity, lifestyle, economic status, and beliefs.  Included in a child’s background are his cultural identity, customs, values, and traditions.  A child’s background also considers the circumstances or situation prevailing during a child’s life, more specifically at the point of learning. As a teacher, you can determine components of a child’s background or story by reading his cumulative file and by asking questions like:

QUESTIONS TO DETERMINE A CHILDS STORY

· When and where were you born?

· Tell me about your parents or your family background.

· Where was your family originally from?

· What do your parents do for a living? Do you contribute to the family income or help parents in their work in any way?  

· What do you remember about your grandparents?

· What stories did you hear about earlier ancestors whom you never knew?

· When did you learn to cook and who taught you? Were there any special family foods or recipes? Do you still make any traditional family foods?

· What activities did the family do together?

· What did you do on religious holidays? Thanksgiving? Birthdays? Other holidays?

· Describe the community you grew up in.

· Describe your neighborhood.

Think for a moment about Josue.  He recently moved to the United States from Mexico.  As the teacher is planning instruction, she may want to include references to Josue’s native city, culture, and customs in order to build a relationship with him and as a means to developing his English.  Differentiation of process is necessary for English language learners as they are in need of sheltered instruction and language support in order to understand and make sense of the content.

A related example of readiness to learn has to do with background knowledge. Consider the teacher who is teaching US History.

One of the standards from the social studies curriculum states Civics and Government. SS.912.C.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the origins and purposes of government, law and the American political system.

Students who were born in the United States have been learning about the origins and history of the United States since they were in elementary school. If their parents are college educated, chances are good that they have had early-childhood experiences in which their parents had talked with them about government and our history. They may have traveled to our nation’s capital and seen firsthand some of the documents mentioned.

Children who were not born in the United States, or who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, will not have had those experiences, and they may be more familiar with their native country’s history. Add to that a possible language barrier, and you can easily see how students approach this learning differently.  The teacher then has to adjust learning activities to build in knowledge for which other students have had experiences. 

Teachers who differentiate instruction are constantly assessing or gathering information about their students. They then adjust the activities in their lesson/unit according to what they learn.  Once they have determined a student’s readiness to learn, the teacher then considers the pace of the learning.  This too can be differentiated.

Consider Sam, Priscilla, and Greg’s readiness to learn.  Sam is below level in reading, Greg probably reads on grade level, and Priscilla may read above level. This is just one of the ways that these three students differ.  Many texts are written in such a way to deliver the same content with different readability levels. Making sure students know how to use and access a dictionary and thesaurus can be seamlessly integrated.  Attending to the variance in reading levels can make the difference between learning and frustration or learning and boredom.