Some may think that differentiating instruction is a recently hatched idea from wherever it is that educational "innovations" begin. Actually, it is a natural outgrowth of a burgeoning understanding of the ways children learn. District #109 is committed to differentiating instruction for a diverse student population with some important assumptions:

Students differ in experience, readiness, interest, intelligences, language, culture, gender, and mode of learning. "Children already come to us differentiated. It just makes sense that we would differentiate our instruction in response to them."

To ensure maximum student growth, modifications need to be made for students rather than assuming students must modify themselves to fit the curriculum.

Classrooms that are grounded in best-practice education and modified to be responsive to student differences benefit virtually all students. Differentiation addresses the needs of struggling and advanced learners. It addresses the needs of students for whom English is a second language and students who have strong learning style preferences. It addresses gender differences and cultural differences.