The use of a pedagogical practice known as ‘differentiation’ has become more common over time as educators have sought to respond to increases in the diversity of students enrolling in their local school. However, there are now so many misperceptions and definitional inconsistencies that it is difficult to know what is being enacted in the name of differentiation or indeed what is being researched internationally. The aim of this scoping review was to identify key characteristics of and conceptualisations within peer‐reviewed empirical research on differentiation published between 1999 and 2019, as well as to map the ways in which this body of research was produced. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to inform a systematic screening process and resulted in a final sample of 34 articles focusing on differentiation in regular schools. Half were conducted in the United States and most in the elementary school phase. Survey and case study designs were dominant, as was research of and influences on teacher practice. Only a small group of studies focused on differentiation's impact on student outcomes and these typically only examined specific elements of differentiation or its use in specific academic domains. The diversity of focus and methodological approaches across the 34 studies prevents comparison of findings and weakens the evidential basis to make claims of either differentiation's effectiveness or indeed its ineffectiveness. The review concludes with recommendations for future research and practice in this important area of practice.
This article reviews research on the effectiveness of four categories of intervention when implemented in public schools with adolescents and young adults diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The study's inclusionary criteria include a setting of public schools, participants aged between 12 and 22 years, and the investigation of an antecedent-, consequence-, self-management-, or video-based intervention strategy to influence skills or behaviors in students.A total of 34 studies met these criteria. The procedures of the What Works Clearinghouse Standards for Single-Case Designs and Evidence are used to evaluate whether sufficient high-quality research in using antecedent-, consequence-, self-management-, and video-based strategies exists to consider these evidence-based practices. Intervention effectiveness is estimated using PAND scores and phi coefficients. The results suggest that sufficient research exists to consider antecedent-, video-, and consequence-based interventions evidence-based practices for adolescents and young adults in public schools. The need for more applied research with adolescents and young adults is highlighted.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.