As academic rigor and cognitive skill development must be at the forefront of the planning process of a lesson or unit, it is essential for an educator to assess and gauge a student's pre-knowledge of the content material. Every student from general education, gifted and talented, special education, and English Language Learners has a distinct story to tell in regards to where they are at in their own educational process. Educators must embrace these stories of all their students to create impactful lessons to enhance each student towards mastery of standards. Gleening the appropriate data from pre-assessments allows the educator to take a quick peek at where a student is at and uses life experiences and prior knowledge to activate prior knowledge and engage students throughout a lesson. By determining what students already know allows educators to assist students to set personal learning goals to close the gaps in their knowledge. It also allows an educator to become aware of the diverse backgrounds within each classroom and helps students close those gaps between what they currently know and new content material.

Specifically for meeting the academic needs of students, educators can accommodate personal learning differentiation by having students complete both pre and post-assessments further more breaking down the specific vocabulary essential for the lesson or unit they are teaching. Educators can provide instructional notes in the students’ native languages for ELL students to help the students access the knowledge needed in their native language, while also providing them the English version to ensure connections can be made as they move through the lesson or unit. Providing students, a reference in both their native and English language encourages them to practice reading English, writing in English and even gets the student to practice grammar. The most efficient ways to learn a new language are to read the language often, ensure there is time to write in the non-native language, and proofread the non-native language work to train the human brain on how to edit effectively while writing. 

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, generating and creating new ideas is the highest way to demonstrate cognitive skills. Regardless of a student’s background or level of achievement, when creating their own original work allows students to reach the highest cognitive level. Project-based learning is an effective strategy for all students and can showcase cultural and linguistic diverse students' knowledge. Students with IEPs and 504s can create and demonstrate the cognitive application of the material learned and customize their projects based on their specific plans. If educators can achieve this level of cognition in a portion of each lesson, all sub-levels of Bloom’s can also be achieved and students are empowered for growth and academic success not only within the lesson but within the class as a whole.