Consciously or unconsciously, teachers often act differently toward students based on the assumptions they have about the individual learner's capabilities. Studies show that the lack of high expectations tends to go hand-in-hand with low achieving classrooms. In these classrooms, teachers generally view their students as limited in their ability to learn, and this view tends to create an atmosphere of failure. Adversely, research also shows that when teachers increase their expectations of student success, academic gains are made. By focusing on high expectations for all students and differentiating instructions, teachers can increase academic success in all classroom settings. Differentiated instruction has been a buzz word and research-based best practice in educational circles for a little under a decade, but is a concept most effective teachers have unintentionally done in their classrooms for centuries.