National Institute for Direct Instruction

What is Direct Instruction (DI)?

Direct Instruction (DI) is a model for teaching that emphasizes well-developed and carefully planned lessons designed around small learning increments and clearly defined and prescribed teaching tasks. It is based on the theory that clear instruction eliminating misinterpretations can greatly improve and accelerate learning.

Its creators, Siegfried Engelmann and Dr. Wesley Becker and their colleagues believe and have proved that correctly applied, DI can improve academic performance as well as certain affective behaviors. It is currently in use in thousands of schools across the nation as well as in Canada, the UK and Australia. Schools using DI accept a vision that actually delivers many outcomes only promised by other models.

A crucial element in the implementation of DI in most cases is change. Teachers will generally be required to behave differently than before and schools may need an entirely different organization than they previously employed. Even staff members will be called upon to alter some operations.

The popular valuing of teacher creativity and autonomy as high priorities must give way to a willingness to follow certain carefully prescribed instructional practices. (Remaining the same, however, are the importance of hard work, dedication and commitment to students.) And it is crucial that all concerned adopt and internalize the belief that all students, if properly taught, can learn.

What is the National Institute for Direct Instruction?

The National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI) is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing school districts with a solid training program and approach for the implementation of DI in districts, schools and classrooms.

The Institute is uniquely qualified for this task in that its founding members include the creators of Direct Instruction. Its leaders and staff have more than thirty years of experience with school and district implementations of DI in all types of environments representing a vast assortment of student and teacher profiles. And they have proved time and again that this approach can produce dramatic improvements in academic performance and affective behavior.

The NIFDI team members work closely with districts from beginning through full implementation. And they stay involved to ensure that school personnel have successfully made the transition from former methods of operation to newer, more successful ones, and that data on results verify those successes.

The Mission of the National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI) is to help schools and districts maximize student achievement in core academic areas.

In support of this mission, NIFDI additionally supports research and development of methods and materials to improve the application of the model.

NIFDI, founded by the creators of Direct Instruction, continues to be directed by the originators of the Direct Instruction approach.

About School/Student Success

Schools fully implementing the NIFDI approach produce evidence of success in direct proportion to teaching improvements. The most significant improvement in standardized test data is likely to become evident in the third year of implementation. The greatest gains are normally shown by students who began using DI in kindergarten and have continued through second grade and beyond.

A report from the American Institutes for Research for AASA, AFT, NAESP, NASSP and NEA of all schoolwide reform models indicated that 32 of 34 qualifying studies demonstrated a positive effect of Direct Instruction on student achievement. In addition, DI was reported effective in improving overall achievement plus achievement in language, reading, mathematics, spelling, health and science. Perhaps most interesting, it had a positive effect on these affective behaviors and social skills: self esteem/concept, attitudes toward self and school, attribution of success or failure to self or outside, sense of responsibility and high school success.

Who Should Use DI?

While it is quite true that virtually any school or district can benefit from Direct Instruction, clearly, some have a greater need than others. Districts in which the vast majority of students are progressing at a normal rate...a year of academic growth per school year...have a relatively minor need to change what they are doing. On the other hand, those districts in which a significant percentage of students are falling behind expectations and are below national norm might wish to look carefully at what they’re doing and consider what changes they might make that could improve the situation for their students.

are concerned about the numbers of students that are failing,
desire to turn the situation around
are willing to take responsibility for student failure and success, and
are willing to change what they’re doing and how they’re doing it....

are excellent candidates for Direct Instruction and the progress it can help bring about. If these factors are not present, it’s unlikely that a district is ready to make the commitment required to produce real, measurable progress among its students. But where a significant number of staff and faculty members believe the responsibility for student progress lies with them, and that their ability to teach effectively has a direct impact on students’ abilities to learn successfully, there is a great likelihood that Direct Instruction can have an important positive impact on all concerned.

What Can We Expect With DI?

Districts that embrace the vision embodied in Direct Instruction will, over time, experience three important systemic changes:

schools producing excellent results and serving as showcases--models of what can uniformly be achieved with at-risk populations
district-employed trainers skilled in implementing Direct Instruction with a level of technical expertise far above the norm who consequently save the district substantial money in new school implementations
a streamlined administrative system that assumes accountability for the performance of teachers and students while providing support without conflicting directives.

These are dramatic changes, and they do not occur overnight. What will occur will be observable in small, incremental steps.

NIFDI schools use a single program sequence for all students, and all students in that sequence receive instruction at the same time. This facilitates the frequent grouping and regrouping which through sensitive monitoring keeps students virtually always within small groups moving at or very near their own pace. The benefit is that children are always operating at a pace at which they can be successful. In addition, all students, including special education students, are fully integrated into that sequence. There are no pullout programs...no groups being treated differently. Every student is the beneficiary of uniformly excellent teaching.

School and district staff and management assume full responsibility for student performance, progress, or lack thereof. Team members monitor teacher performance, instructional groups and individual student progress and mastery. In this way, problems can be quickly identified and resolved.

What emerges over time is an instructional model referenced to the students in which even low-performing students can become smart. They not only make substantial gains on tests. In time, they look and act like smart students....because they realize that now they are smart students.

They become the fortunate products of a district in which the ultimate vision is virtually no failure. The cost of the vision is very low compared to the cost to the community of school failures.

What is the Role of the School and District?

School and/or district involvement with Direct Instruction and NIFDI generally starts with a recommendation from the district superintendent and a commitment to a full school-wide implementation. In some cases, however the district will begin with a single pilot school to give everyone a chance to observe and understand what’s involved, what to expect and what can be accomplished.

consistent daily schedules
a set curriculum with no conflicting elements
grouping and management procedures
a three-to-five-year timetable for implementing all programs and procedures in all grades with all students in every school within the district.

Teachers must make those same commitments in so far as relevant and in addition, must commit to attending scheduled pre-service and accepting classroom monitoring and assistance. In addition, everyone must commit that time scheduled for specific instructional elements will actually be used for those tasks.

Commitments extend beyond faculty and management to administrative staff. The district must appoint an accountability officer, administrative problem solver and a liaison with NIFDI. Finally, it’s crucial that a clear commitment be made to careful documentation, with current performance data providing the baseline. Achievement tests currently in use will be continued, and an additional outside evaluation component may be added.

What Tools Do We Need?

Specific curriculum materials are required in order to implement this program. They are:

Reading--
Reading Mastery I through VI, Horizons A through D; Corrective Reading Program, Decoding and Comprehension

Mathematics--
DISTAR Arithmetic 1, Connecting Math Concepts Levels A through F; SRA Math Modules, SI Video Disc programs

Language--
Language for Learning Reasoning and Writing Levels A through F, Expressive Writing

A Schedule of Implementation provided will help schools plan for integrated use of these materials.

What About Funding?
Funds for implementation can come from a variety of sources. Traditional funds used for instructional materials or purposes can be reallocated. Also, there will be some expenses above and beyond the norm for teacher and aide salaries. These will include:

release time for training of facilitators and DI coaches
release time for pre-service and in-service teacher and aide training
release time for building monitors (usually the coaches)
shipping costs for student progress reports and other data to NIFDI
expenses for NIFDI participation

Added costs should be examined in comparison to the costs of remediation or failure of children lost entirely to the system. When viewed in that context alone, the expense of implementing DI pales by comparison. And there’s no way to put a price on the cost of failure to those who are failing. Such costs are too painful and far too subjective to document and possibly too devastating to fully comprehend.

Getting Started

If you and your colleagues have examined the elements of the program and believe you are ready to begin, a simple phone call is your next step. Call Kurt Engelmann toll free at 1-877-485-1973 or E-mail us at info@nifdi.org and send us a note including your phone number, school and district name and e-mail address.

There's no better time than now to take that first step toward success for your students, your teachers, your district.


What is Direct Instruction (DI)? What is the National Institute for Direct Instruction? NIFDI Mission About School / Student Success Who can benefit from DI? What can we expect with DI? What's our role? What tools do we need? What about funding? Getting started / Contact NIFDI NIFDI Consultants Only Research Matrices Becoming an Effective DI Trainer Subscribe to the DI-Announce Newsletter	See how Gering Public Schools, a small district in northwest Nebraska, closed a 23 percent achievement gap between white and Hispanic students in three years by implementing the full immersion model of Direct Instruction (DI) with NIFDI.
	What is Direct Instruction (DI)? Direct Instruction (DI) is a model for teaching that emphasizes well-developed and carefully planned lessons designed around small learning increments and clearly defined and prescribed teaching tasks. It is based on the theory that clear instruction eliminating misinterpretations can greatly improve and accelerate learning. Its creators, Siegfried Engelmann and Dr. Wesley Becker and their colleagues believe and have proved that correctly applied, DI can improve academic performance as well as certain affective behaviors. It is currently in use in thousands of schools across the nation as well as in Canada, the UK and Australia. Schools using DI accept a vision that actually delivers many outcomes only promised by other models. A crucial element in the implementation of DI in most cases is change. Teachers will generally be required to behave differently than before and schools may need an entirely different organization than they previously employed. Even staff members will be called upon to alter some operations. The popular valuing of teacher creativity and autonomy as high priorities must give way to a willingness to follow certain carefully prescribed instructional practices. (Remaining the same, however, are the importance of hard work, dedication and commitment to students.) And it is crucial that all concerned adopt and internalize the belief that all students, if properly taught, can learn. What is the National Institute for Direct Instruction? The National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI) is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing school districts with a solid training program and approach for the implementation of DI in districts, schools and classrooms. The Institute is uniquely qualified for this task in that its founding members include the creators of Direct Instruction. Its leaders and staff have more than thirty years of experience with school and district implementations of DI in all types of environments representing a vast assortment of student and teacher profiles. And they have proved time and again that this approach can produce dramatic improvements in academic performance and affective behavior. The NIFDI team members work closely with districts from beginning through full implementation. And they stay involved to ensure that school personnel have successfully made the transition from former methods of operation to newer, more successful ones, and that data on results verify those successes. The Mission of the National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI) is to help schools and districts maximize student achievement in core academic areas. NIFDI employs a process of school reform that: is intensive and data-driven, focuses on student academic performance, builds capacity, and involves continuous improvement. NIFDI’s approach has more than 30 years of research documenting its effectiveness, involves constant monitoring of student academic progress, implements collaborative problem-solving, has a hands-on, coaching approach to professional development, and depends upon an exclusive use of research-validated Direct Instruction curricula. In support of this mission, NIFDI additionally supports research and development of methods and materials to improve the application of the model. NIFDI, founded by the creators of Direct Instruction, continues to be directed by the originators of the Direct Instruction approach. About School/Student Success Schools fully implementing the NIFDI approach produce evidence of success in direct proportion to teaching improvements. The most significant improvement in standardized test data is likely to become evident in the third year of implementation. The greatest gains are normally shown by students who began using DI in kindergarten and have continued through second grade and beyond. A report from the American Institutes for Research for AASA, AFT, NAESP, NASSP and NEA of all schoolwide reform models indicated that 32 of 34 qualifying studies demonstrated a positive effect of Direct Instruction on student achievement. In addition, DI was reported effective in improving overall achievement plus achievement in language, reading, mathematics, spelling, health and science. Perhaps most interesting, it had a positive effect on these affective behaviors and social skills: self esteem/concept, attitudes toward self and school, attribution of success or failure to self or outside, sense of responsibility and high school success. Who Should Use DI? While it is quite true that virtually any school or district can benefit from Direct Instruction, clearly, some have a greater need than others. Districts in which the vast majority of students are progressing at a normal rate...a year of academic growth per school year...have a relatively minor need to change what they are doing. On the other hand, those districts in which a significant percentage of students are falling behind expectations and are below national norm might wish to look carefully at what they’re doing and consider what changes they might make that could improve the situation for their students. Districts in Which Staff and Faculty: are concerned about the numbers of students that are failing, desire to turn the situation around are willing to take responsibility for student failure and success, and are willing to change what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.... are excellent candidates for Direct Instruction and the progress it can help bring about. If these factors are not present, it’s unlikely that a district is ready to make the commitment required to produce real, measurable progress among its students. But where a significant number of staff and faculty members believe the responsibility for student progress lies with them, and that their ability to teach effectively has a direct impact on students’ abilities to learn successfully, there is a great likelihood that Direct Instruction can have an important positive impact on all concerned. What Can We Expect With DI? Districts that embrace the vision embodied in Direct Instruction will, over time, experience three important systemic changes: schools producing excellent results and serving as showcases--models of what can uniformly be achieved with at-risk populations district-employed trainers skilled in implementing Direct Instruction with a level of technical expertise far above the norm who consequently save the district substantial money in new school implementations a streamlined administrative system that assumes accountability for the performance of teachers and students while providing support without conflicting directives. These are dramatic changes, and they do not occur overnight. What will occur will be observable in small, incremental steps. NIFDI schools use a single program sequence for all students, and all students in that sequence receive instruction at the same time. This facilitates the frequent grouping and regrouping which through sensitive monitoring keeps students virtually always within small groups moving at or very near their own pace. The benefit is that children are always operating at a pace at which they can be successful. In addition, all students, including special education students, are fully integrated into that sequence. There are no pullout programs...no groups being treated differently. Every student is the beneficiary of uniformly excellent teaching. School and district staff and management assume full responsibility for student performance, progress, or lack thereof. Team members monitor teacher performance, instructional groups and individual student progress and mastery. In this way, problems can be quickly identified and resolved. What emerges over time is an instructional model referenced to the students in which even low-performing students can become smart. They not only make substantial gains on tests. In time, they look and act like smart students....because they realize that now they are smart students. They become the fortunate products of a district in which the ultimate vision is virtually no failure. The cost of the vision is very low compared to the cost to the community of school failures. What is the Role of the School and District? School and/or district involvement with Direct Instruction and NIFDI generally starts with a recommendation from the district superintendent and a commitment to a full school-wide implementation. In some cases, however the district will begin with a single pilot school to give everyone a chance to observe and understand what’s involved, what to expect and what can be accomplished. Involved principals agree to: consistent daily schedules a set curriculum with no conflicting elements grouping and management procedures a three-to-five-year timetable for implementing all programs and procedures in all grades with all students in every school within the district. Teachers must make those same commitments in so far as relevant and in addition, must commit to attending scheduled pre-service and accepting classroom monitoring and assistance. In addition, everyone must commit that time scheduled for specific instructional elements will actually be used for those tasks. Commitments extend beyond faculty and management to administrative staff. The district must appoint an accountability officer, administrative problem solver and a liaison with NIFDI. Finally, it’s crucial that a clear commitment be made to careful documentation, with current performance data providing the baseline. Achievement tests currently in use will be continued, and an additional outside evaluation component may be added. What Tools Do We Need? Specific curriculum materials are required in order to implement this program. They are: Reading-- Reading Mastery I through VI, Horizons A through D; Corrective Reading Program, Decoding and Comprehension Mathematics-- DISTAR Arithmetic 1, Connecting Math Concepts Levels A through F; SRA Math Modules, SI Video Disc programs Language-- Language for Learning Reasoning and Writing Levels A through F, Expressive Writing Science-- SI Video Disc Programs, Academic Challenges Social Science-- Understanding US History Fact Learning (cultural literacy)-- Your World of Facts 1, 2 Handwriting-- SRA Cursive Writing (may not be required for all groups) A Schedule of Implementation provided will help schools plan for integrated use of these materials. What About Funding? Funds for implementation can come from a variety of sources. Traditional funds used for instructional materials or purposes can be reallocated. Also, there will be some expenses above and beyond the norm for teacher and aide salaries. These will include: release time for training of facilitators and DI coaches release time for pre-service and in-service teacher and aide training release time for building monitors (usually the coaches) shipping costs for student progress reports and other data to NIFDI expenses for NIFDI participation Added costs should be examined in comparison to the costs of remediation or failure of children lost entirely to the system. When viewed in that context alone, the expense of implementing DI pales by comparison. And there’s no way to put a price on the cost of failure to those who are failing. Such costs are too painful and far too subjective to document and possibly too devastating to fully comprehend. Getting Started If you and your colleagues have examined the elements of the program and believe you are ready to begin, a simple phone call is your next step. Call Kurt Engelmann toll free at 1-877-485-1973 or E-mail us at info@nifdi.org and send us a note including your phone number, school and district name and e-mail address. There's no better time than now to take that first step toward success for your students, your teachers, your district. Back to Top
National Institute for Direct Instruction - P. O. Box 11248 - Eugene, OR 97440 Phone: 1 877-485-1973 - Fax: 1 541-683-7543