Complex Instruction

Heterogeneous Classrooms

Academically, linguistically, socially, and culturally heterogeneous classrooms are a global phenomenon. The movement of people from one region to another, from racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically homogeneous places to cities, villages, and neighborhoods where people speak different languages, wear different clothes and eat different foods, celebrate different holidays, and keep different traditions has become ubiquitous and enduring. Education systems throughout the world are tasked with providing the youngsters of these multinational and multicultural populations genuine opportunities to learn, to achieve social and economic advancement, and to live safely as citizens with equal rights and responsibilities in democratic societies.

When enrolling in schools, these children and adolescents arrive with varying levels of readiness, academic preparation and achievement, and oral and written proficiency in the language of instruction. They have learned different ways of interacting with adults and with peers, with family members and with strangers; they have developed locally appropriate ways of interpreting situations and participating in conversations and of framing and solving everyday problems. Consequently, these youngsters bring to the classroom profoundly different repertoires of skills and strategies for making sense of the world. The teacher's job is to make sure that all students know exactly what to do, and when, why, and how to do it while following accepted norms of classroom behavior. Teachers also need to provide authentic opportunities for students to demonstrate their intellectual competence and mastery of the material.

Because learning at home and in school occurs through social interaction, teachers need to create classroom environments where students interact productively with each other, with the teacher, and with texts and materials designed to further their academic, cognitive, linguistic, and social growth. Because classrooms are social systems, complex instruction—based on sociological theories and research—is designed to create environments in which students, working in small groups, interact equitably to master essential disciplinary content and discourse and develop a varied and powerful repertoire of problem-solving strategies and skills. Numerous studies have documented the effectiveness of complex instruction as indicated by various measures of student achievement. Currently, teachers apply the pedagogical principles of complex instruction in different subject areas, at different grade levels, and in different countries.

Building Equitable Classrooms

In equitable classrooms, students have multiple avenues to access developmentally appropriate, academically rigorous, and intellectually challenging curricula. They participate actively and interact in balanced, equal-status fashion with their peers. Teachers and students recognize that different intellectual abilities are needed to complete classroom tasks. Students are “smart” when they think deeply, solve practical problems, and demonstrate their intellectual competence in different ways, through different media, and with different tools. In equitable classrooms, student achievement is narrowly clustered around an acceptable standard with no predictable gap based on demographic background.

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