The National Institute for Direct Instruction maintains an Office of Research and Evaluation that compiles research on Direct Instruction (DI), conducts original studies of DI, and responds to requests for assistance in issues related to research regarding Direct Instruction.
Body of Research The Research Office has developed an extensive bibliography of writings related to DI6, maintains a searchable database of articles and books, and has written narrative summaries and meta-analyses of this literature3,5.
A substantial body of NIFDI research has examined the effectiveness of the DI curricula. These studies have confirmed the accumulated findings of decades of other studies showing that students studying with DI have higher achievement scores and stronger growth rates than students studying with other curricula. These results have appeared with reading1,2,8,9,10,13,15 and math7; in urban1,2,7, rural2,8 and suburban8,13,15 settings; with middle class high achieving students13; with high risk students16, general education students1,2,7,8,9,10,13,15,16 and special education students15; with schools that are predominantly African American1,7,9, those with substantial numbers of Hispanic students2,8,15 and those with large numbers of non-Hispanic whites8,13,15; and with children from pre-school age10 through middle school4. The strong positive results appear in studies examining state test scores4, curriculum-based measures2,4,8,10 and norm-referenced tests1,4,7,9,10; in the United States as well as in other countries11 and with randomized control trials10,13,14 as well as quasi-experimental designs1,2,4,7,8,9,11,15.
Examination of the NIFDI Implementation Model The NIFDI research office has also examined how the NIFDI model can help teachers and students have the greatest success possible. This research has documented the ways in which schools that adhere to the NIFDI model, in all of its components, have the greatest growth in student achievement over time:
Curricula Reviews A number of organizations provide reviews of educational curricula. The results of their work have disappointed many, and their procedures have received substantial criticism from the research community. NIFDI’s analyses of the WhatWorks Clearinghouse are typical of these critiques and have described errors in specific reviews16 as well as problems in procedures that are used to assess fidelity of implementation12. Other analyses have described more general problems with the review criteria and alternative approaches that provide both more internal and external validity4.
Institutional Review Board NIFDI’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) is registered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and complies fully with the federally established guidelines for the protection of human subjects. Details on NIFDI’s IRB policy are available upon request.
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