One Size Does Not Fit All: Discover Your Personal Path to a Happier Life

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Using differentiated instruction is not about separating students or creating one lesson plan for many. It’s about assessing student needs throughout the year. While one lesson plan will help several students at one point, another lesson plan may not work for the rest. Assessing students’ needs does not need to be cumbersome. It can be as simple as noticing non-verbal clues in the classroom to written work.

Joyce L. Epstein, “School/Family/Community Partnerships: Caring for the Children We Share,” Phi Delta Kappan 76 (9) (1995): 701–712, available at https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/api/pds/b30762a7557ba0b391f207f4c600c9dd/Article%20%22School,%20Family,%20and%20Community%20Partnerships-%20Caring%20for%20the%20Children%20We%20Share.%22%20by%20Joyce%20Epstein%20.pdf.D’Angelo, R. (2020b). The man I am trying to be is not me. International Journal of Psychoanalysis. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207578.2020.1810049. Bever, L. (2019). Conversion therapy associated with severe psychological distress in transgender people, study says. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 7, 2020 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/09/11/conversion-therapy-associated-with-severe-psychological-distress-transgender-people-study-says/. Overall, parents, teachers, and school leaders reported that schools’ communication of various types of information is actionable, and parent engagement is strong. Parents surveyed reported more positive perceptions of parent-school communication than in other recent reports, including surveys and stories from Learning Heroes and EdNavigator. The difference may be a result of the fact that the CAP survey asked about many more types of communication than school report cards and communication around academic progress. In addition, in an effort to keep the survey brief and prevent survey fatigue, the authors did not define “actionable” or “engagement.” Given research that shows that different populations define engagement and communication differently, the results of the survey cannot be directly compared with other findings that provided parents or teachers with more specific examples or definitions of these terms. One size fits all" is a description for a product that would fit in all instances. The term has been extended to mean one style or procedure would fit in all related applications. It is an alternative for "Not everyone fits the mold." [1] [2] It has been in use for over five decades. There are both positive and negative uses of the phrase.

There were also differences in reported engagement by grade level. Elementary school parents, teachers, and school leaders were more likely than survey respondents from middle or high schools to agree that the information their schools shared helped promote parent engagement. This is similar to Learning Heroes survey data that found a severe drop in parent engagement in middle school: Middle school parents are more likely than elementary school parents to use less personal methods of engagement, such as accessing a web portal, and are less likely to use more personal methods, such as attending a parent-teacher conference. 53 State policymakers can also encourage districts and schools to prioritize school-parent communication, family input, and family engagement. Specifically, state policymakers should: Fitzsimons, T. (2019). Transgender ‘conversion therapy’ associated with ‘severe psychological distress.’ NBC News. Retrieved September 7, 2020 from https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/transgender-conversion-therapy-associated-severe-psychological-distress-n1052416.

Learning Heroes, “The Case for an Accurate Picture: Parent Mindsets on Education Trends From 2016-2019” (Alexandria, VA: 2019), available at https://r50gh2ss1ic2mww8s3uvjvq1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Learning-Heroes_Trends-Piece-Booklet_R01.pdf. Other school districts also have interesting family engagement activities and policies, though they are not directly related to communication approaches. Bensalem Township School District in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, for instance, requires that the annual evaluation of parent engagement activities examines differences across all racial and ethnic subgroups and articulates the unique barriers faced by different families, such as limited literacy, economic disadvantage, or limited English proficiency. 68 The Bensalem plan highlights that it will ensure coordination in parent involvement activities across other federal, state, and local programs. Sidney Lanier Senior High School in Montgomery, Alabama, once churned through 10 different principals in 10 years—including four principals in a single year. But today, Dr. Antonio Williams boasts a six-year tenure as Lanier’s principal. CAP created and distributed a survey to K-12 public school parents, teachers, and school leaders that asked about the content, frequency, and importance of multiple types of information parents receive, as well as the methods schools use to communicate this information. The authors also reviewed current parent and family engagement plans—required under Title I, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act—choosing plans from three districts in Colorado and three districts in Pennsylvania and highlighting observed trends. (see “Title I review methodology” in the Appendix for more information about why these districts were selected) Bruno V. Manno, “NOT Your Mother’s PTA,” Education Next 12 (1) (2012): 42–51, available at https://www.educationnext.org/not-your-mothers-pta/.