The Report-Research Continuum: A Differentiation Decision-Making Tool for Teachers to Design Rigorous Student Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to assist classroom teachers in discerning qualitative differences between a student-written report and student-led research. There are many connotations to the terms “report” and “research,” and they can have implications on how teachers effectively or ineffectively differentiate instruction to challenge students who have high academic ability. In this article, we present what we coin the Report-Research Continuum (R-RC), which is a differentiation decision-making tool for selecting student projects of varied levels of complexity. We also discuss the benefits of student-led reports and research and how they align with national standards. After reading this article, teachers will have an expanded understanding of similarities and differences between the terms “report” and “research” and will be able to use the R-RC to guide their selection of appropriately challenging projects that align with students’ readiness levels and interest areas.

Differentiated instruction in reading in elementary schools: a systematic review

“…The selected studies show that adapting learning content, process, and product might help teachers address students' reading levels and interests. Some examples of content and product differentiation from the studies were by providing diverse books, giving code-focused and meaning-focused instruction based on the students' reading assessments, and allowing students to choose projects in reading instruction [28], [33], [35], [39]. On the other hand, process differentiation can be given by allocating specific instructional time and providing guided reading and individualized instruction in classrooms [36]- [38].…”

“…Second, process differentiation was depicted as teachers adapt specific instructional time for reading (SITR) based on student characteristics [36], assigning students to routine comprehension activities developed based on student's interests and targeted reading levels [28], conducting guided reading and targeted reading instruction (TRI) to the students [37], [38], and engaging students with computer-assisted instruction for the independent practice of reading skills such as vocabulary and decoding skills [24], [31]. Finally, product differentiation can be seen from the use of differentiated graphic organizers for students' reading comprehension [28] and choices of projects such as student-written reports or student-led research based on their readiness and interest [39].…”

Cultivating a Learning Environment to Support Diverse Gifted Students

“…Action #4: Be Flexible Being flexible within the physical, digital, and affective learning environments is especially beneficial when implementing more advanced differentiation approaches that can be open-ended such as student-led reports and research projects (Gilson & Brigandi, 2020). Flexibility is at the heart of differentiation and can be thought of as synonymous with adaptation to student needs.…”