Strategies for diverse learners: Is streaming an answer?

Meeting the needs of all types of learners is a huge challenge for any educator. This topic was recently raised in my seminar class, so I thought I'd share with you all some of my thoughts on the issue of diversity and differentiation in the classroom.

Only recently has "diversity" become a common consideration and focus in education, and even so, it's not given the same priority in all high school classrooms. While much work is being done on the administration and planning side of things, it's obvious that some teachers are struggling with the notion of having to coordinate their lessons to meet a range of learning abilities.

In my observation school, I was surprised to find a noticeable lack of diverse learners in the classrooms I visited. This is because many of the classes of my high school were "streamed" to provide different education options for students with a range of skills and interests. For example, Math 10 and 11 were streamed (as they are across BC) to give teachers the opportunity to work with discrete groups of students who benefit most from focusing on basic concepts and understandings (Essentials), or on real-life applications they can relate to (Applications), or on higher-level operations and problems they'll need if they plan to go on to university (Principles). I couldn't imagine having such a wide spectrum of learners all in one classroom - and the math teacher I spoke with couldn't have agreed more.

But is there not something inherently problematic about segregating students into a hierarchy of learning environments? While observing the Math Essentials class, I couldn't help but wonder what these students could be capable of if they were only presented with the right form of challenge. At this point in my career, I must admit, I'm a big believer in the idea that young people will generally live up to the expectations you set for them. Given the opportunity to do easier work that requires less cognitive effort and praises "satisfactory" as the ultimate goal... well, students are going to find that hard to resist.

Sure, there will always be a significant group of students who are self-motivated and who want to go to university and who know they need to take the upper-level courses. But those are the students who would learn what they need to know regardless of how they're taught - it doesn't take nearly as much effort or skill on the part of the teacher to get those PLOs across. So why are these more "gifted" students the ones who are challenged to grow and develop, while the students who really need that attention and guidance are permitted - if not encouraged - to sneak by with the bare minimum?

But even though this is clearly an imperfect system, are we up to the challenge of creating a better alternative? How can we ensure each student has an equal opportunity to learn to the best of his/her ability, without resorting to segregation?