Introduction

Regardless of how well teachers plan and implement their lessons, students learn differently. Some students absorb the lesson's message like a sponge and eagerly ask for more. Some marginally meet the teacher's objectives. Others do not. This document is designed to help teachers design, implement, and evaluate individualized instruction within the context of the general education curriculum in regular classroom settings. Initially, factors to consider regarding a student's readiness to benefit from instruction are addressed. Factors to consider when designing individualized instruction follow. Next, considerations for implementing individualized instruction within the general education curriculum and regular classroom are presented. Finally, procedures for evaluating individualized instruction are presented.

Consider Student Readiness to Benefit from Instruction

When a teacher proceeds to the next lesson before the straggling (or struggling) students attain the desired outcomes of the current lesson, those students have gaps in their knowledge. Over time, these gaps widen, becoming chasms in the fundamental academic basics. Unmastered content areas prevent students from benefiting from future instruction and may trap then in a track of failure. Over time these students are likely to become hopelessly behind their peers. They may learn helplessness in academic settings and are likely to turn to other avenues for success and acceptance. These students are at high risk for school dropout and disheartening long term outcomes. By considering student readiness to learn and strategies for designing, implementing, and evaluating individualized instruction teachers may optimize student learning, prevent student failure, and decrease drop out.

A Checklist for Considering Student Readiness

1. Consider Student's Level of Need

 Basic need
 • Physiological needs (food, water, sleep);
 • Safety needs (good health, security from harm or danger);
 • Belonging and love needs (friends, family, group belonging); and 
 • Esteem needs (respect, confidence, and admiration of others and self-respect).

Growth needs 
 • The need to know (satisfy curiosity, seek knowledge, and gain understanding);
 • Aesthetic needs (order, symmetry, and closure); and 
 • Self-actualization (develop potential). 

(a) Beliefs
- What are the student's/family's religious beliefs? How do they impact the educational process?
- What are the roles of the differing family members (mother, father, grandparents, etc.)? How do they relate to the student's education?
- To what extend is historical European American culture integrated into the educational program?  African American? Hispanic American? Native American? Oriental American?
- To what extent are the family's beliefs respected and reflected in the curriculum?

(b) Values
- To what extent does the student/family value independence vs. interdependence? Competition vs. collaboration? Etc.?
- Does the family value maintaining the language, customs, traditions of their primary culture or becoming immersed in the mainstream of American society?
- To what extent does the student's family value formal education? To what extent does the student's family value providing support to students regarding homework, extracurricular activities, etc.?
- To what extent are the family's values respected and reflected in the curriculum?

(c) Customs
- To what extent are the student's/family's daily routines and customs compatible with those of the teacher, school, community?
- To what extent do the student's/family's daily routines and customs impact the student's ability to participate in/succeed in school?
- To what extent are the family's customs regarding dress, daily routines, activities, etc. respected and reflected in the curriculum? 

Informal Support Systems: 

(a) Immediate Family
(b) Extended Family
(c) Community Groups (minister, church, sports teams, scouts, etc.)
- To what extent does the student have access to informal supports to help the student with homework? Access to extra curricular activities? Access to enrichment activities?
- To what extent does the student have quality care and supervision?

(a) Social Service Agencies
(b) Health Care
(c) Medical Insurance, etc

- To what extent does the student have access to the financial resources n ecessary to succeed? thrive?
- To what extent does the student have access to the environmental resources necessary to succeed  in school? Thrive? 
- Does the student have a quiet place to study? Is that place free from distractions?
- Does the student / family have access to reliable transportation necessary for participation in educational activities.
- Does the student have access to information resources to optimally participate in educational activities?
- Does the family have consistent access to a telephone?

Design Individualized Instruction

1) Identify Student's Present Level of Performance
- Is the teacher aware of the student's current level of performance relative to the instructional content being address in the class?
- What is the student's reading rate? Reading comprehension? Educational level in the area of written language? Math? Etc.

2) Assess Prerequisite Skill
- Does the student have the necessary readiness skills to be successful in class instruction?
- Does the student have the time management skills necessary to be successful? Organization skills? Listening skills? Note taking skills? Test taking skills?

3) Increase Student Motivation
- Does the student have an intrinsic desire to learn?
- Can the teacher elicit student intrinsic desire to learn?
- Can the teacher motivate student learning by extrinsic methods such as grades or a token economy?

4) Accommodate Individual Students' Learning Styles
- Does the teacher know the student's optimal learning style?
- Does the teacher accommodate student's individual learning styles within the general curriculum and regular class? 
- Can changes be made to optimize the student's opportunity to learn by providing advanced organizers to each lesson? Making teacher notes available? Assisting students to obtain notes taken by other students? Providing opportunities for cooperative/group learning activities? Reviewing?

5) Accommodate Individual Students' Response Styles
- Does the teacher provide a variety of options for students to demonstrate their acquired knowledge? 
- Do students have the option of taking written tests? Responding orally? - Participating in activities to demonstrate their skill?

6) Recognize Phases of Student Learning
- Does the teacher provide multiple opportunities for students in the following stages of learning?

Initial Acquisition – When students are first learning the task.
Advanced Acquisition – When students have learned part, but not all, of the task.
Proficiency – When students have learned the task, but do it very slowly and with errors.
Maintenance – When students have learned the task, and need periodic practice to continue their skill.
Generalization – When students have learned the task, but need to transfer that skill to other settings, other people, and other situations.
Adaptation/Problem Solving – When students have learned the task and need to use that skill to solve problems, learn new information, or modify the task slightly for new situations.

7) Increase Student Success
- Can the teacher increase the probability that the student will experience success by reducing the number of items? Modifying the presentation of the material? Increasing instructional organization? Making changes in the learning environment?

8) Consider the Difference between Teaching and Learning
- Does the teacher periodically pause the instructional process to check for student learning?
- Does the teacher provide additional or alternative instruction when probes indicate a student is not learning?

9) Capitalize on Student Interests
- Does the teacher note student interests and incorporate these into the instructional process as often as possible?

10) Prevent Problem Behaviors
- Does the teacher organize the educational setting to prevent behavior and learning problems?
- Does the teacher optimally use intrinsic motivation to increase student desire to participate?
- Does the teacher use extrinsic motivation systems, such as token economies, to increase student performance?

11) Provide Student Guidance
- Does the teacher clearly give students guidance regarding expected behavior? - Directions for completing educational activities? Lessons? Homework?

Implementing Individualized Instruction

1) Provide Positive Reinforcement
Does the teacher provide each student with at least eight positive comments for each negative comment?
Does the teacher catch the students being good?
Does the teacher praise specifically and liberally?

2) Structure the Physical Environment
Does the teacher organize the learning environment to minimize distractions? Engage students' interest? Provide space for a variety of types of learning experiences?

3) Structure the Social Environment
Does the teacher provide a warm, supportive social environment conducive for student learning?
Does each individual in the learning environment have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities?
Do students have a clear understanding of teacher expectations, rules, and consequences?
Does the student have opportunities to have positive, prosocial interactions with peers and teachers?
Does the student need instruction in classroom social skills? Basic interactional skills? Coping skills? Problem solving skills? Decision making skills? Social conventions? Assertiveness skills? Self control?

4) Violate Expectations/Creating Novelty
Does the teacher integrate novelty into the learning environment and experience?
Does the teacher effectively elicit student interest in educational activities by violating their expectations, breaking monotony, and creating the unexpected?

5) Use Peer Mediated Activities
Does the teacher provide opportunities for students to participate in cooperative learning activities with peers?
Does the teacher provide opportunities for students to work together on projects?

Evaluate Individualized Instruction

1) Monitor Instruction Effectiveness
Does the teacher systematically monitor the effectiveness of instruction?

2) Monitor Student Learning
Does the teacher systematically monitor individual student's learning using a variety of instructional methods? Across all educational content areas?

3) Analyze Student Errors
Does the teacher analyze student work for systematic errors?
Does the teacher form hypotheses about misunderstood rules, which may influence student success?
Does the teacher provide instruction to correct mistaken rules?

Teachers, who take the perspective of the students' cultural and linguistic reality, level of supports, and resources, are in the position to help prevent students' failure. Some students' existence outside the classroom does not facilitate, and may inhibit, success. Students' experiences within the classroom may be their only avenue to acceptance and education. Realizing this, teachers have the opportunity to play an enormous role in molding students' long term outcomes. Teachers can give students hope by (a) acknowledging the limits of each student's reality, (b) understanding that some students may not be able to engage in any meaningful educational experiences outside the doors of the classroom, and (c) making accommodations for each child to succeed. Teachers are some students' only hope for success and prosocial acceptance.

References

Bos, C. S. and Vaughn, S. (1998). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior problems. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Cooke, R. E., Tessier, A., & Klein, M.D. (1992). Adapting early childhood curricula for children with special needs. New York: Merrill.

McKeachie, W. J. (1999). Teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Rivera, D. P. and Smith, D. D. (1997). Teaching students with learning and behavior problems. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.