• Classroom materials are often dominated by information in text. But text is a weak format for presenting many concepts and for explicating most processes. Furthermore, text is a particularly weak form of presentation for learners who have text- or language-related disabilities. Providing alternatives—especially illustrations, simulations, images or interactive graphics—can make the information in text more comprehensible for any learner and accessible for some who would find it completely inaccessible in text.

• Present key concepts in one form of symbolic representation (e.g., an expository text or a math equation) with an alternative form (e.g., an illustration, dance/movement, diagram, table, model, video, comic strip, storyboard, photograph, animation, physical or virtual manipulative)
• Make explicit links between information provided in texts and any accompanying representation of that information in illustrations, equations, charts, or diagrams
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• Successful transformation of information into useable knowledge often requires the application of mental strategies and skills for “processing” information. These cognitive, or meta-cognitive, strategies involve the selection and manipulation of information so that it can be better summarized, categorized, prioritized, contextualized and remembered. While some learners in any classroom may have a full repertoire of these strategies, along with the knowledge of when to apply them, most learners do not. Well-designed materials can provide customized and embedded models, scaffolds, and feedback to assist learners who have very diverse abilities in using those strategies effectively.

• Give explicit prompts for each step in a sequential process
• Provide options for organizational methods and approaches (tables and algorithms for processing mathematical operations)
• Provide interactive models that guide exploration and new understandings
• Introduce graduated scaffolds that support information processing strategies
• Provide multiple entry points to a lesson and optional pathways through content (e.g., exploring big ideas through dramatic works, arts and literature, film and media)
• “Chunk” information into smaller elements
• Progressively release information (e.g., sequential highlighting)
• Remove unnecessary distractions unless they are essential to the instructional goal

Instructional delivery models are used that maximize small group or one-on-one time with students to deliver personalized and differentiated instruction.

• Frequently use targeted small group instruction to individualize for student learning
• Purposefully differentiate instruction for small groups
• Group students dynamically for purposeful differentiation