3-29-08
Dear Brian:
Thank you for responding.
In answer to your inquiry I will send you a copy of my abstract "Doorway 
to Change: Implementing Differentiated Instruction into Middle School 
Grades for African American Students" when it is complete. I am a doctoral 
student in Educational Leadership and am conducting an action research 
pilot study (in the pre-dissertation phase) on how to improve methods of 
implementation using differented instruction (DI). My study originated 
from a previous study on the disproportional representation of African 
American (AA) students placed in special education (SE)in the U.S.A. I do 
not know the situation in UK, however, in the States, one of the causes 
for high teacher referral for AA students in SE is lack of differentiated 
instruction in the classroom. 

There are other issues of course for this problem, such as what I 
mentioned in my previous e-mail about the status quo educational system 
not understanding what is good or bad for the students - and how to 
approach improving a student's deficiency in one area. I decided to pursue 
the topic of DI for my pilot study which includes acting as a 
researcher/teacher-mentor/participant role model to 3 tenured middle 
school teachers - 1 math, 1 science and 1 English in order to a)find out 
the barriers teacher face during implementation of DI and how to improve 
methods of overcoming these barriers, b) does DI implementation have any 
impact on the number of  end-of-year SE referrals and c) what are my 
motivational skill strengths/weaknesses as a leader during this process 
and phase?

Consequently,reflective inquiry, and mixed methods of qualitative and 
quantitative data collection are involved in my study with cycling. I will 
ponder on what you stated concerning subjectivity/objectivity....thank you 
again for your remarks. I think the points Tim and Alan made are genuine, 
however, believe theorization only works if it can be tied into improving 
practice. For example, in a recent interview with a Child Study Team (CST)
manager. (The CST is responsible for classifying regular education 
students into SE). I inquired why the district is only interested in the 
basic math and reading skills of the student and does not investigate the 
multiple intelligences (MI)of the child although we,as educators know 
Gardner's theory placed into practice is very effective?  The response is 
that the policy only dictates a review of the student's math and reading 
skills, and physical coordination,and sometimes social skills and 
emotional behavior if the teacher or parent raises the issue. 
Consequently, the AA student who may be brilliant in math and reading, or 
other MI domain areas, however lacks social skills or emotional 
development is 75% of the time misdiagnosed and placed into SE classes in 
the U.S.A. - when this population is actually part of a growing group of 
gifted underachievers and more than likely belong in an advanced placement 
class, not SE classes. It is a growing epidemic, and certainly is an issue 
that needs addressing.
Sincerely,
Cynthia