Date of Award

Fall 2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Prince Bull

Abstract

This study explored the similarities between the philosophies and techniques used by select high school athletic coaches and select elementary reading teachers. The study shows parallels between the psychology behind coaching methodology within high school athletics and differentiated instruction within the elementary reading classroom. The purpose of this research was to develop a pathway to influence the increased implementation of differentiated instruction in elementary schools by determining and highlighting these parallels. The design of the study is a triangular analysis of interview questions conducted in a face-to-face interview format, document analysis, and surveys to show the parallels between the planning and implementation approaches. The data gathered from these measures generated patterns and identified strong parallels of structure between instructional delivery in the two areas. We learned that with a better focus on aligning prioritization within these parallels, school leaders have the opportunity to shed new light on differentiated instruction, grounded in the UDL model, to better promote and foster student success in the classrooms. Perception is reality, and it is the goal that this study provides a positive perception of differentiated instruction.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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