Differentiation Adapter Agent Skill

Adapt a classroom task for specific learner needs while preserving the core learning objective intact.

Context cost
4.7k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
1 file · 18.6 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
not declarednone named by its author
Last change
—v1.0
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Adapt a classroom task for specific learner needs while preserving the core learning objective intact. Use when differentiating for SEND, EAL, gifted, ADHD, dyslexia, or anxiety.

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

adaptationdifferentiationdocumentationinclusionsendudl

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md18.6 kB · preview
--- # AGENT SKILLS STANDARD FIELDS (v2) name: differentiation-adapter disable-model-invocation: false user-invocable: true effort: medium # EXISTING FIELDS skill_id: "curriculum-assessment/differentiation-adapter" skill_name: "Differentiation Adapter" domain: "curriculum-assessment" version: "1.0" evidence_strength: "moderate" evidence_sources: - "Tomlinson (2001, 2014) — How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms" - "Rose & Meyer (2002) — Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning" - "Vygotsky (1978) — Mind in Society: the zone of proximal development" - "Hattie (2009) — Visible Learning: differentiation and responsive teaching" - "CAST (2018) — Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2" input_schema: required: - field: "original_task" type: "string" - field: "learner_profile" type: "string" - field: "learning_objective" type: "string" optional: - field: "student_level" type: "string" - field: "subject_area" type: "string" - field: "student_profiles" type: "array" - field: "available_support" type: "string" output_schema: type: "object" fields: - field: "adapted_task" type: "object" - field: "what_changed" type: "string" - field: "objective_check" type: "string" - field: "implementation_notes" type: "string" chains_well_with: - "scaffolded-task-modifier" - "cognitive-load-analyser" - "formative-assessment-technique-selector" - "practice-problem-sequence-designer" teacher_time: "3 minutes" tags: ["differentiation", "UDL", "inclusion", "SEND", "adaptation"] ---
70# Differentiation Adapter
71
72## What This Skill Does
73
74Adapts a task for a specific learner profile — extension, support, EAL, ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, visual impairment, autism, gifted and talented — while explicitly maintaining the same learning objective. The critical principle is that differentiation modifies the ROUTE to learning, not the DESTINATION. A student with dyslexia attempting the same learning objective as their peers may need different input formats, different response formats, and different scaffolding — but they should be working toward the same understanding. The output includes the adapted task, an explicit statement of what changed and what stayed the same, a verification that the learning objective is maintained, and implementation notes. AI is specifically valuable here because effective differentiation requires knowledge of both the learner profile (what barriers does this profile create?) and the task (which elements of this task create those barriers?) — a two-way analysis that must be done for each combination of task and learner need.
75
76## Evidence Foundation
77
78Tomlinson (2001, 2014) established the framework for differentiated instruction, identifying three dimensions of differentiation: content (what students learn), process (how they learn it), and product (how they demonstrate learning). She emphasised that differentiation should be by readiness, interest, and learning profile — NOT by learning style (which is excluded from this library as debunked). Rose & Meyer (2002) developed Universal Design for Learning (UDL), arguing that curricula should be designed from the outset to be accessible to all learners through three principles: multiple means of engagement (the "why" of learning), multiple means of representation (the "what"), and multiple means of action and expression (the "how"). Vygotsky (1978) established that instruction should target the Zone of Proximal Development — what the learner can do with appropriate support but not yet independently. Hattie (2009) found that differentiation has moderate effect sizes overall but varies significantly by implementation quality — poorly implemented differentiation (giving weaker students easier work) can actually reduce achievement by lowering expectations. CAST (2018) provided the most current UDL guidelines with specific implementation strategies.
79
80## Input Schema
81
82The teacher must provide:
83- **Original task:** The task as designed. *e.g. "Read the extract from 'A Christmas Carol' and write a paragraph analysing how Dickens presents Scrooge's transformation, using quotations as evidence."*
84- **Learner profile:** The specific need. *e.g. "Extension — student who finishes quickly and needs deeper challenge" / "Support — student with dyslexia who struggles with reading-heavy tasks" / "ADHD — student who struggles with sustained focus on extended writing"*
85- **Learning objective:** What all students should learn. *e.g. "Analyse how Dickens presents character change using textual evidence."*
86
87Optional (injected by context engine if available):
88- **Student level:** Year group
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md2,552 words
Files1
Licencenot declared
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈680
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
3,970
on trigger
The instruction body, read only when the skill fires.
2.3%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 23% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

4.7k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

1 file, 18.6 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md18.6 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 1 file you can review in full before installing.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# Differentiation Adapter · 4.7k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/differentiation-adapter/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/differentiation-adapter" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/differentiation-adapter ] || { mv .claude/skills/differentiation-adapter "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/differentiation-adapter" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/differentiation-adapter"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add garethmanning/differentiation-adapter

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/differentiation-adapter/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/differentiation-adapter/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/differentiation-adapter" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/differentiation-adapter ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/differentiation-adapter "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/differentiation-adapter" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/differentiation-adapter" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/differentiation-adapter/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Version1.0
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencegarethmanning/differentiation-adapter

Versions

v1.0 is what is on the shelf; no release here carries a date. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

v1.0
  • No earlier releases have been published to the marketplace.
Pinning

The install command always fetches the release that is current the day you run it — v1.0 today — and cannot ask for an earlier one. The copy on your disk does not change until you run it again.

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