Founded on the premise that education, especially literacy, should be accessible to all students in a democratic society; the seventh edition of Multiple Paths to Literacy is written to help teachers address the literacy needs of the diverse learners that populate today's K-12 classrooms. To meet every student's literacy needs, teachers must learn to differentiate classroom instruction. According to Joan Gipe, differentiating instruction requires knowing where students are in their literacy development and using multiple forms of literacy to meet those needs - including text-based materials, technology, visual literacy, and the performing arts. Multiple Paths to Literacy provides teachers with an analytical approach and practical strategies to recognize learners ' literacy strengths and needs, identify any students with special needs, and plan and differentiate instruction that takes into account each student's talents and multiple intelligences to tailor that instruction.