POST-COVID DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION - A CASE STUDY OF PRE-K-12 TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS IN THE GREATER TORONTO AREA

Oct 15, 2026

Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic, school systems worldwide continue recovery as students re-enter in-person learning. Educators increasingly examine where interventional strategies can address learning loss and support students’ academic progress and emotional well-being. This exploratory case study investigates Pre-K-12 teachers’ desired and actual use of differentiated instruction in the Greater Toronto Area. Findings aim to guide professional development for educators, school leaders, and planners to mitigate pandemic impacts on learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

The Case for Post-COVID Differentiated Instruction in K-12 Schools in the GTA

Demographic and School Context in the Greater Toronto Area

Ontario Curriculum, Planning, and Teacher Supports

Student Assessment and Evaluation Framework

POST-COVID DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION: A CASE STUDY OF PRE-K-12 TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS IN THE GREATER TORONTO AREA ROSELLE C. ARANHA SUSHMA MARWAHA WALTER S. POLKA Niagara University, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic, school systems worldwide are still on the road to recovery. As students return to in-person learning, there is an increased awareness among educators to investigate the areas of student need where interventional strategies could be applied to bridge the learning loss and help further student academic achievement and emotional well-being. Focused adoption of differentiated instructional practices by teachers may be one of the many ways in which educators could make classroom learning more student-centered. This case study was an exploratory investigation into teachers’ desired and actual use of differentiated instruction within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The study was conducted to gain a perspective on the areas of particular growth for differentiated instruction in the post-COVID educational environment. The findings from this study may help educational planners, school leaders, and teachers develop relevant professional development programs that could incrementally help to reverse some of the detrimental impacts of the pandemic on student learning. THE CASE FOR POST-COVID DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IN K-12 SCHOOLS IN THE GTA Toronto is the largest city in Canada. It is also one of the most multicultural cities in the world. It draws its diversity from a significant immigrant population. The social fabric of the city and the surrounding Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is a blend of people with over 250 ethnicities (Ryan, 2019) . Geographically, the GTA includes the regions of Durham, Peel, Halton, York, and Toronto. It is located in the province of Ontario. The latest census report for 2021 put the population figure for the GTA as 6,712,341(Statistics Canada, 2023) . This is 18% of the total population of Canada. Approximately 55% of the residents of the GTA are visible minorities. Given this demographic complexity, PreK-12 school leaders within the GTA have a challenging mission to serve a very diverse and continuously changing student population. The choices for preK-12 school education in the GTA are distributed across the public and private school sectors. There are four well-established historical public-funded school systems in Ontario. These four government-funded public education systems include the English Public Schools, the English Catholic Schools, the French-language Public Schools, and the French-language Catholic Schools (Peel District School Board, 2023) . Students in these schools receive free education up to grade 12, though parents might have to spend on supplies and other amenities for their children. Private schools within the province function independently of public funding. Students who attend these schools have to pay a tuition fee. All schools within the province of Ontario are governed by the directives ofthe Ministry of Education, Ontario. The Ministry of Education, Ontario, provides guidance and organizational scaffolding for schools, principals, and teachers regarding the curriculum structure, which includes four aspects: program planning, curriculum context, curriculum expectations and teacher supports, and assessment and evaluation. Acknowledging the diversity of its student population, the Ontario curriculum is Educational Planning | Summer 2024 67 Vol. 31, No. 3 structured to be relevant for individual students so that they can identify with the curriculum both in its content and context. Teachers are required to plan their units of study to reflect a variety of teaching approaches and strategies to address the curriculum expectations and meet the needs and abilities of students in their classes (Ministry of Education, Ontario, 2023) . The Ministry of Education, in its directive on considerations for program planning, explicitly s

FAQs

What problem does the study address after COVID-19?

It addresses ongoing recovery needs after the pandemic, focusing on where interventional strategies can bridge learning loss and support students’ academic and emotional well-being during the return to in-person learning.

What is the main focus of the case study?

The case study explores teachers’ desired and actual use of differentiated instruction in the Greater Toronto Area within a post-COVID educational environment.

How does the document connect differentiated instruction to broader education goals?

It links inclusive and equitable education expectations in Ontario policy with the UN Plan for Education for Sustainable Development 2030, emphasizing transformative, holistic, equitable, and inclusive pedagogy to advance quality education.

Oct 15, 2026

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