Differentiation

Differentiation is inherent in the programs of study in the province of Quebec. Current education reforms point to the need for a school system that supports and guides the diverse student body, making them better prepared for an ever changing society.

For excerpts on differentiation within the Quebec Education Programs of study, click on the links below:
Elementary School QEP
Secondary School QEP

Differentiated Evaluation
http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/DGFJ/pdf/cpea_evaluation6_eng.pdf
A must read. Many key questions and answers regarding the evaluation practices and policies for students with learning difficulties and handicaps.

Learning Difficulties: Reference Framework for Intervention
http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/dgfj/das/soutienetacc/pdf/19-7051-01A.pdf

Reading at the Secondary Level
http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/stat/recherche/lec_sec_ang.pdf

A Question of Motivation:Different students, different programs
Synopsis of the brief to the Minister of Education
On differentiated programs and optional programs in secondary cycle two
http://www.ccpe.gouv.qc.ca/synth_elevesdiff_a.htm

Inclusive Quebec Schools: dialogue, values and common reference points
http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/accommodement/pdf/RapportAccRaisonnable_a.pdf

Elementary School QEP
To Provide Qualification Through a Variety of Options
Schools have a duty to make it possible for all students to achieve educational success and to facilitate their integration into society and the workplace at the end of their schooling, whatever the path they choose. To this end, the Ministère de l’Éducation defines the basic curriculum. However, it is the responsibility of the educational institutions to provide all students with an educational environment commensurate with their interests, aptitudes and needs by differentiating instruction and offering a broader range of educational options." (Elementary QEP. p. 5)

English Language Arts
In differentiated classrooms, all students, including those who have difficulty with the written code, have the right to experience the richness of the ideas in texts and to participate as writers within a classroom reading-writing community.
(Elementary QEP. p. 86)

Our new English Language Arts program is both a text that addresses a series of issues and concerns raised by our community since 1980, and an inventory of best teaching practices from many of the most talented teachers in Québec. As you read the program, you will find much that is familiar to you and new ideas that bring our profession “up to speed” with important developments in language teaching.

What are some familiar elements? Among those we might list are: children’s literature; writing as a process; responding to and interpreting texts; collaborative learning; storytelling; spelling as a process of constructing patterns, rules and generalizations; written and spoken discourse; student-centred learning that promotes differentiation in inclusive classrooms; learning-by-doing (i.e. rather than hearing about it);

ELA COMPETENCY 1
TO READ AND LISTEN TO LITERARY, POPULAR AND INFORMATION-BASED TEXTS
Focus of the Competency
...In addition, although the reading competency describes essential developmental processes, they will become differentiated as children follow individual pathways to become readers in inclusive classrooms.  As a result of the student’s immersion in a rich, literate classroom environment, s/he uses reading to acquire the cross-curricular competencies which are: to use information, to solve problems, to exercise critical judgment and to use creativity. (QEP, p. 100).
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Secondary, Cycle 2, QEP
A curriculum for the 21st century

Targeting the objective of success for all students, with no lowering of
requirements, the educational policy statement called on the schools to
extend the process of democratization begun in the 1960s. Thus the school
had to meet two demands: that of increasing access to education and raising
the graduation rate and that of providing education of a high quality.

The policy statement called for a curriculum based on the learning considered
essential for students in the early 21st century. By insisting on the importance
of meeting the needs and interests of each student, the policy statement
underlined the need for differentiated educational practices within the
framework of a common curriculum, a curriculum that would become more
specialized in Cycle Two of secondary school. The policy statement recalled the
need to consolidate basic education by establishing a common core of learning,
and it oriented secondary school toward a more open education that would
allow some of the students to acquire basic qualifications for employment. (QEP, p.1-2)
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Guidance and Support
In addition to graduating the requirements of learning and evaluation
situations to ensure the development of the competencies during the cycle,
teachers should organize their teaching in a way that takes into account
the students’ previous learning, individual cognitive styles and interests so
as to provide the most favourable conditions for learning. Thus teachers
should adapt their teaching strategies, their ways of having
students work together and the design of their situations
in order to take individual differences into account as far
as possible in the class setting. This approach to teaching
is known as differentiated instruction.
Teachers who practice differentiated instruction understand the dynamics at
work in their classes and are sensitive to the diversity of the students in
them. This means they use a broad range of strategies and take advantage
of interactions that occur naturally in the class. The parameters used to
graduate the level of complexity of the situations can also be used to
differentiate the situations in class.
In Secondary Cycle Two, as in the previous cycles, the program promotes flexible
classroom organization, the use of varied documentary and technological
resources, respect for individual work rhythms and differentiated support
and enrichment. The strategies that can be used include having students
work on their own or in small groups, and teachers can use lecturing and
explicit instruction when necessary. (QEP, p.20).
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1.7 Diversified Curriculum that helps students plan for the future
From the beginning of preschool education to the end of Secondary Cycle One,
the Québec Education Program is the same for all students, while explicitly
taking into account the heterogeneity that characterizes any group of students.
The practice of differentiated instruction is seen as an essential condition for
countering failure, because it allows every student to make optimal progress...

...Hence the concept of diversification supplements that of differentiated
instruction. The two terms are related, but each one has a specific definition
in the Québec Education Program. Differentiated instruction refers to
pedagogical practices that take into account the students’ heterogeneity in
terms of their prior learning, interests and learning styles, while
diversification refers to the organizational arrangements made to respond
to students’ individual characteristics, arrangements involving different paths
and elective subjects. These organizational arrangements involve more than
merely grouping students according to their abilities or interests. They are
above all the school team’s means for helping students develop optimally
by making informed choices regarding their studies.
(QEP, p. 23)
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4.3 Subjects that vary in the different learning paths
The three paths presented in Chapter 1—General Education Path, Applied
General Education Path and Work-Oriented Training Path—provide the
structure for a varied set of subject-specific programs that enable Secondary
Cycle Two students to increase their knowledge, better define their areas of
interest and make choices that meet their needs. The programs offered in
this cycle are therefore quite diverse:
– compulsory programs that are differentiated to adapt the basic learning
to students’ needs and interests, as in Languages and Mathematics
– optional programs that allow students to acquire more learning in certai
(QEP, The Subjects, p.18)
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CCC-6 Uses Information and Communications Technologies
This competency involves using ICT thoughtfully and
effectively and diversifying their use, exercising
critical judgment. It entails access to appropriate
resources and ongoing support and supervision. It is
thus important to provide students with a stimulating
environment in which to learn to process information, to create and to
communicate using ICT. If used appropriately in teaching subject content,
ICT accelerate the acquisition and development of many cross-curricular and
subject-specific competencies. They are suitable for use in differentiated
learning situations in which students are expected to take responsibility for
the construction of their learning. By providing access to a multitude of
information sources and individuals, they give students the benefit of
expertise from throughout the world and enable them to share ideas and
achievements of all kinds.
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English Language Arts
Differentiation in the Classroom
Any literacy program must be created with a range of
students in mind. In the SELA2 program, the balanced
nature of the three competencies makes it possible for
teachers to accommodate the varied needs, interests,
abilities and learning styles of all the students they teach.
Indeed, the principles of differentiation lie at the heart of
the QEP. When teachers differentiate instruction, they modify contexts for
learning, the content to be learned and aspects of the learning process. With
the inclusion of spoken and media texts, young adult literature, a range of
texts to be produced, the important role of talk in all aspects of the learning
process, and an emphasis on conferencing and student self-evaluation, the
SELA2 program provides a solid foundation for differentiated instruction
(QEP, p.3).
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