Campbell, L. and B. Campbell (1999). Multiple intelligences and student achievement: Success stories from six schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
A multiple intelligence focus in instruction leads to increased test scores. Students from varied cultural and economic groups flourish academically in such settings. Student and staff attitudes improve as well.

Dunn, R., & Griggs, S. (1995). Multiculturalism and learning style: Teaching and counseling adolescents. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Positive effects occur when instruction is matched to learning styles of students.

Dunn, R. (1996). How to implement and supervise a learning style program. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Individuals vary in preference for conditions of learning. These preferences influence student achievement and attitude toward learning.

Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Brain researchers explain that learning occurs when the learner experiences neither boredom nor anxiety and is neither over- or under-challenged.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Curriculum and instruction that matches learning style and intelligence preference of students from diverse cultures has positive has positive impacts on learner outcomes.

Lasley, T. and T. Matczynski (1997). Strategies for teaching in a diverse society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
A person’s culture shapes all aspects of a person’s life When a person is socialized to act one way, and the classroom plearning may be hampered.

McGreal, T. (1985). Characteristics of effective teaching. First Annual Intensive Training Symposium, Clearwater, FL.
Student achievement is not likely to improve when teachers ask students to practice what they already know. Student achievement is likely to be negatively impacted when teachers ask students to complete tasks that cause the students ongoing frustration.

Schlechty, P. (1997). Inventing better schools: An action plan for educational reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
The appropriate question in today’s diverse classroom is not “how can I motivate students?” Rather, it is “What motivates this particular student and how do I design work that is responsive to these motivations?”

Sousa, D. (2001). How the brain learns. Thousand Oaks: CA, Corwin.
Students should work at a level of “moderate challenge” for optimal learning to occur.

Strickland, C.A. (2009). Professional development for differentiating instruction: An ASCD action tool. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
This resource has more than 45 tools an activities that make it easier for staff developers, teacher leaders, and other professional development leaders to show teachers and administrators how to successfully implement and maintain differentiation.

Stronge, J. (2002). Qualities of effective teachers. Alexandria, VA, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
A summary of research shows that effective teachers in contemporary classrooms develop classroom routines that attend to rather than ignore learner variance.

Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand me: Women and men in conversation. New York: Ballentine.
Gender may influence how individuals look at and interact with the world. When a person is socialized to act one way, and the classroom promotes a different way of interacting, a mismatch occurs and learning may be hampered.

Tomlinson, C. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
This book delineates the principles that guide a differentiated classroom. The book focuses on instructional strategies that make it much easier to provide multiple learning paths for students. Vivid classroom examples help see differentiation in action. It includes steps to help a teacher get started with differentiation or to take it to a higher level.

Tomlinson, C. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms (2nd edition). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
In this book, you will learn proven ideas for how to match instructional approaches to the readiness, interests, and talents of all students: learning centers, hands-on activities, contracts, and investigative projects. Plus, read about new ways of structuring lessons to provide “scaffolds” for the lesson content, the procedures used in learning, and the products of learning. The “how-to” chapters give fully explicated examples.

Tomlinson, C. A. & Allan, S. D. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C., Brimijoin, K., & Narvaez, L (2008). The differentiated school: Making revolutionary changes in teaching and learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Multi-year studies in an elementary school and a high school indicate positive and sustained achievement gains for students in all segments of the achievement spectrum and in a range of subject areas as a result of differentiated instruction. In the high school, the student dropout rate has also fallen sharply and student participation in Advanced Placement courses has risen by almost half, with AP exam scores holding steady or rising despite the increased enrollment. In both sites, a school-wide emphasis on differentiation has continued for at least seven years and achievement gains have continued over that time span.

Tomlinson, C., & Eidson, C. (2003). Differentiation in practice: A resource guide for differentiating curriculum, grades K-5. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
The guide features entire instructional units for science, social studies, math, and language arts. Each unit is complete with standards and learning outcomes, lesson plans, worksheets, learning contracts, assessments, and other materials for classroom instruction. Comments from the teachers who created these lessons help you decide differentiation strategies based on students’ varied interests, strengths, and needs. These units can be used as a template as you design your own differentiated unit.

Tomlinson, C., & Eidson, C. (2003). Differentiation in practice: A resource guide for differentiating curriculum, grades 5-9. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
The guide features entire instructional units for five core subjects. Each unit is complete with standards and learning outcomes, lesson plans, worksheets, learning contracts, assessments, and other materials for classroom instruction. Comments from the teachers who created these lessons help you decide differentiation strategies based on students’ varied interests, strengths, and needs. These units can be used as a template as you design your own differentiated unit.

Wolfe, P. (2001). Brain matters: Translating research into classroom practice. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Students should work at a level of “moderate challenge” for optimal learning to occur.

Amabile, T. (1983). The social psychology of creativity. New York: Springer-Verlag.
By helping students discover and pursue their interests and passions, we can maximize their engagement with learning, their productivity, and their individual talents.

Banks, J. (1994). Multiethnic education: Theory and practice. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Particular Instructional materials, curriculum, staff attitudes and beliefs, policies, teaching styles, assessment procedures, and other facets of schools may be more advantageous to members of some gender or cultural groups and disadvantageous to others. As a result teachers may misalign learning opportunities.

Berliner, D. (1988). The development of expertise in pedagogy. New Orleans: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Student achievement is not likely to improve when teachers ask students to practice what they already know. Student achievement is likely to be negatively impacted when teachers ask students to complete tasks that cause the students ongoing frustration.

Bransford, J. D., A. L. Brown, et al., Eds. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
When students encounter tasks at moderate levels of difficulty they are more likely to sustain their efforts to learn even in the face of difficulty than when tasks are too difficult or under-challenging.

Byrnes, J. (1996). Cognitive development and learning in instructional contexts. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Instruction must always be in advance of a child’s current level of mastery for growth to occur.

Collins, M. and T. Amabile (1999). Motivation and creativity. In R.J. Sternberg, Handbook of Creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 297-312.
By helping students discover and pursue their passions, we can maximize their engagement with learning, their productivity, and their individual talents. High levels of intrinsic interest set up conditions for creative production. One approach is to allow students to choose their own topics for projects.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. and I. Csikszentmihalyi, Eds. (1988). Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Theory of flow: a state of total absorption that comes from being lost in an activity that is so satisfying that the participant loses track of time, weariness, and everything else but the activity itself. Flow requires that the participant be interested in the activity in which he or she is engaged.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper and Row.
Conditions for flow are clarity about purposes and the participant’s sense that the task is within his or her capacity to act. Flow encourages the participant to seek out new challenges to grow. Interests foster skills needed to develop talent. Flow is the strongest predictor of student engagement and of how far he or she progresses in a content area.

Csikszentmihalyi, M., K. Rathunde, et al. (1993). Talented teenagers: The roots of success and failure. New York: Cambridge University Press.
For teenagers to become committed to developing their talents there must be a match between the complexity of tasks developed by teachers for students and the individual skill level of the students. Students whose skills are under challenged demonstrate less interest in and involvement in learning activities and a lessening of concentration. Students, whose skills are inadequate for a task, demonstrate low achievement and a lowering sense of self- worth. Teachers effective in developing talent attend to student readiness levels. A second key to talent development is student interest in the task.

Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.
Instructional materials, curriculum, staff attitudes and beliefs, policies, teaching styles, assessment procedures, and other facets of schools may be more advantageous to members of some economic or cultural groups and disadvantageous to others. As a result teachers may misalign learning opportunities if they use the same materials and procedures with all students. This can undermine the academic success of students for whom the materials and procedures are not a match.

Fisher, C., Berliner, D. et al. (1980). Teaching behaviors, academic learning time, and student achievement: An overview. In C. Denham and A. Lieberman, Time to learn. Washington, DC: National Institutes of Education: 7-32.
There is a relationship between student achievement and a teacher’s ability to diagnose the student’s skill level and prescribe appropriate tasks. When students work at a high success rate, they feel better about themselves and the subject they are studying, and they learn more.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Human intelligence manifests itself in many spheres. Teaching should attend to an individual’s intelligence preferences to enhance achievement.

Gayfer, M. (1991). The multi-grade classroom: Myth and reality: A Canadian study. Toronto: Canadian Education Association.
Students in multi-grade classrooms (where teachers consistently address student readiness) fare better than students in classrooms with a more single-size approach to learning on measures on study habits, social interaction, cooperation, attitude toward schools, and general mental health.

Gilligan, C. (1982). In different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
A person’s gender may influence how he or she looks at and interacts with the world. When a person is socialized to act one way, and the classroom promotes a different way of interacting, a mismatch occurs and learning may be hampered.

Howard, P. (1994). An owner’s manual for the brain. Austin, TX: Leornian.
Brain researchers explain that learning occurs when the learner experiences neither boredom nor anxiety—in other words, is neither over- or under-challenged.

Hunt, D. (1971). Matching models in education. Ontario, CA: Institute of Studies in Education.
More effective learning takes place when the amount of task structure provided by a teacher matches a student’s level of development.

Jensen, A. (1998). The g factor and the design of education. Intelligence, instruction, and assessment: Theory into practice. R. J. Sternberg and W. M. Williams. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 111-132.
The best learning environments offer a large variety of choices, allowing students the opportunity to discover their interests and talents.

McLaughlin, M. and J. Talbert (1993). Contexts that matter for teaching and learning: Strategic opportunities for meeting the nation’s educational goals. Stanford, CA: Center for Research on the Context of Secondary School Teaching.
Equality of opportunity only happens when students receive instruction that is suited to their needs. This enables them to maximize their growth.

Renninger, K. (1990). Children’s play interests, representations, and activity. In R. Fivush and J. Hudson, Knowing and remembering in young children. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University. Emory Cognition Series, Vol. 3, 127-165.
When students are interested in what they study, there is an impact on both short-term and long- term learning.

Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Human intelligence manifests itself in many spheres. Teaching should attend to an individual’s intelligence preferences.

Tieso, C. (2002). The effects of grouping and curricular practices on intermediate students’ math achievement. Hartford, CT: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.
Achievement gains are found across economic and achievement levels through pre/post-test results for students in effectively differentiated classrooms.