Teachers in schools where more than two-thirds of students are from low-income families are more likely than those with one-third or fewer low-income students to say that the following resources would have a major impact on their ability to effectively address the different learning needs of individual students: access to online and other technology-based resources to help personalize education (72 percent vs. 59 percent); better tools for understanding students’ learning strengths and needs (70 percent vs. 56 percent); instructional strategies to teach effectively in a classroom where many students speak a language other than English (69 percent vs. 58 percent); and the availability of a learning expert (57 percent vs. 42 percent).
Forty-six percent of teachers said more knowledge about neuroscience, brain development, and how students learn would have a major impact on their ability to address students’ different learning needs.
A significant majority of middle and high school teachers (61 percent) say they are able to differentiate instruction “a great deal” to meet the varying learning needs of students in their classrooms. Their confidence in this ability to effectively customize their teaching for each student, however, varies by subject. Math teachers are the least likely (46 percent) to say they are able to differentiate instruction a great deal to help their students, compared with higher numbers of English teachers (60 percent) and teachers of other non-math and English subjects (65 percent).
Teachers’ confidence in their abilities to meet the needs of several types of learners also depends on their school. Teachers in schools with a college-going school culture—that is, with high proportions of students who will graduate college-ready—are more likely than others to say they are able to differentiate instruction. Among teachers who report that at least three-quarters of students in their school will graduate high school ready for college, 70 percent say they are able to differentiate instruction a great deal. Among teachers who say less than three-quarters of students will graduate high school ready for college, only 50 percent say the same.
While students overall give teachers a grade of B- on average for teaching individual students according to their abilities and needs, students who need the most help have a less positive opinion. Students who have considered dropping out of school are four times as likely as other students to give their teachers a grade of D or F (45 percent vs. 11 percent). Learning-challenged students are also more likely to give their teachers a D or F in this area (19 percent vs. 14 percent).
The survey also examines the attitudes of parents, teachers, and executives toward a number of solutions proposed to help improve American education. Adult stakeholders’ opinions are divided as to whether using measurements of teacher effectiveness that are based in significant part on student achievement growth should be a priority that takes precedence over others, given limited resources. A huge majority of parents (92 percent) and executives (97 percent) believe such measurements should be a priority. However, 27 percent of teachers say that no additional resources should be devoted to it.
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