Michael Ballone, director of curriculum for the K-8 Marlboro Township Public Schools in New Jersey, has a clear idea of what most literacy instruction gets wrong: it only serves struggling readers. “I think every child needs to have some kind of reading intervention,” says Ballone, a former seventh-grade English teacher. “It might mean acceleration or it might mean remediation. If it means we need to give students material one, two or three grade levels above what they are reading in order for them to progress, that’s what we do.”

At Marlboro Township, such a tapestry of interventions is woven into the fabric of the curriculum thanks to Achieve3000. With online differentiated literacy instruction, the platform delivers nonfiction content matched to each student’s individual Lexile® score. The fit is so precise, says Ballone, “it’s like buying a custom tailored shirt at a boutique as opposed to buying something off the rack.”

EdSurge caught up with Ballone to discuss differentiation tools, the dangers of not intervening with above-average readers and the thrill of seeing equity in action in the classroom.