Meeting Every Child Where They Are: Ensuring Education is Accessible to All

[Sponsored Article]

By: Dr. Amoy Hugh-Pennie, PhD, BCBA-D,

Director of Inclusive Education at The Harbour School

When people hear the term differentiation in the context of education, they often think of it in connection to special education needs. Although this may be the case in some instances that is not the original intent. Differentiation is when academic and other forms of instruction are individualized to meet the needs of all students. In economics and marketing it is a way to differentiate products and services from others on the market by making them unique to their user base and easier or more attractive to access or use. In education we use similar methods as a way to respond to the subtle differences across learners. We do not all grow at the same rate neither do we learn that way. Differentiation allows teachers to take what they know about their students and incorporate their interests and abilities into how they learn and express learning.  The way that we help to “unlock the best” in all of our students at The Harbour School is to ensure that all students have the same opportunities to play to their strengths while developing skills to improve academically, emotionally and socially.

The formula is to ensure that the whole school community of teachers, parents, students and staff understand our mission of inclusion. Inclusion is not just educating students alongside each other in the same classroom. Inclusion means that we integrate strategies incorporated in Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a strategy used to identify possible barriers in the learning environment and then determine ways to reduce or eliminate them so all students can be successful. Some ways to do that are to ensure teachers use multiple modalities for providing instruction, ensure that all students have access to content information required to gain knowledge in a particular area or subject, and offer students choices of how to present their understanding of the material.