"Show me the data."
- Wesley Becker
Education:
B.A. (Hons) English & Creative Writing, Royal Holloway, University of London (2017)
Years of DI Experience: 5
Jon Owen is a UK-based Direct Instruction consultant and trainer supporting primary and secondary schools to implement DI reading, mathematics, and writing programmes. He began his career as a mathematics teacher in Kent, where he was also Head of Computer Science, and first taught with DI in 2021, delivering Corrective Mathematics. He went on to coach DI teachers at Astrea Academy Trust, then spent two years as DI coach, trainer, and teacher across Athena Learning Trust in Devon.
At Athena, the implementations he supported saw EYFS Good Level of Development in maths rise from 65% to 95% in a single year, and secondary students' reading ages improve by an average of 2.5 years in one year, with one site making 3.5 years' progress.
Jon now works with NIFDI supporting the City of London Academies Trust's DI implementation across its secondary schools, covering Corrective Reading, Connecting Math Concepts, Expressive Writing, and Essentials for Writing. He delivers NIFDI training in the UK, including Corrective Reading Decoding and Comprehension, Essentials for Writing, and Corrective Mathematics. He is trained in Corrective Reading Decoding (A, B1/B2, C), Corrective Mathematics (Addition, Subtraction), Connecting Math Concepts B–E, DISTAR Arithmetic I and Reading Mastery Signature Edition Reading and Language K, and has attended the NIFDI Training, Coaching and Leadership Institutes.
"How well we teach = how well they learn. Teach with passion. Manage with compassion."
- Anita Archer
Bonnie Grossen, Ph.D., taught high school German and English before beginning her career in Direct instruction in 1975 while teaching elementary Native American children. Later, as a high school special education teacher, she taught DI for 9 years before embarking on the Ph.D. program at the University of Oregon. Subsequent to graduation, she served as Head of the English Department at a black teacher-training college in South Africa. The mandate there was to raise teacher trainee competencies using DI programs and to implement DI in the homeland elementary schools.
Bonnie’s career in DI involved three different roles: researcher, author, and implementer/teacher trainer. As a researcher, she received the Award for Outstanding Research in Learning Disabilities presented by the Council for Learning Disabilities in 1989; the National Young Researcher Award presented by the Association for Computers and Educational Technology in 1989; and the American Federation of Teachers’ Contributing Researchers Award for bridging the gap between research and practice in 2002. The first two awards were for her research demonstrating that logical thinking and reasoning could be taught successfully to low-IQ individuals, a finding that contradicted the mainstream belief that logical ability is innate and cannot be taught.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
- Bernard M. Baruch
Ashly has strong ties to the NIFDI-EB family. She got her start when her mother, Christine, asked for her help with some small projects at the office. Eventually, Ashly was asked to fill in at the front desk for Margie. She went from the front desk to be a typist and editor at Engelmann-Becker for four years. Ashly then moved over to NIFDI, where she works on the website, publishing, and handling her duties as a Financial Assistant.
"If the students haven't learned, the teacher hasn't taught."
- Zig
Siegfried Engelmann was a maverick in the field of education who dedicated his life to the education of children. He is best known for designing the Direct Instruction model, which he based on the philosophy that if a child fails to learn, it is not the fault of the child, but rather the instruction. Beginning in the 1960s, Engelmann sought to determine how children learn, how best to instruct them, and how to ensure that they have mastered the content. He designed the Direct Instruction model to maximize efficiency and effectiveness so all children may succeed inside and outside the classroom. The education programs and techniques he developed have continuously been proven successful with a wide range of students of varying ages, skills, and abilities. These programs have been shown to be more effective than other instructional programs in hundreds of studies over four decades.
After earning his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Engelmann worked in advertising agencies, where he began analyzing what type of input was necessary to induce retention. His work on these marketing strategies led him to develop techniques for teaching children, initially his own two sons. These early experiments led to the first Direct Instruction programs and techniques. Engelmann realized the relation between what his sons learned and how he instructed them, and applied this knowledge to his work with education researcher Carl Bereiter at the Institute for Research on Exceptional Children in Champaign, Illinois (1964-1966). In 1964, they formed the Bereiter-Engelmann preschool, where they would begin using and testing direct instruction techniques with disadvantaged children
Following the success of his preschool work, Engelmann took part in Project Follow Through, the largest and most expensive experiment in education when it was devised in the 1960s. The Direct Instruction model was shown to be superior to all other models examined in every category measured. Despite its proven success, the Direct Instruction model was not endorsed by the Office of Education. Results of Follow Through were not disseminated as originally planned for the most effective model.
Project Follow Through provided a wealth of data on the effectiveness of Direct Instruction programs with a variety of students, which Engelmann and colleagues analyzed in the following decades. He wrote new programs for teaching reading, language, math, and science. He also authored corrective reading programs for teaching decoding and comprehension. He demonstrated that Direct Instruction was not only effective with disadvantaged students but could also be used successfully with middle-class students, above-average students, and severely handicapped students. The expansion of Direct Instruction programs also involved the incorporation of new forms of technology (video discs) to teach math and science concepts.
Apart from the promotion of Direct Instruction programs and accompanying instructional theories, Engelmann addressed the problems of the school system, which consists of the teachers, the colleges that train them, administrators, the programs they select, and education researchers who do not support the most effective programs. Engelmann determined that the root of failure in the education of children is the school system as a whole. Engelmann wrote extensively on this problem, beginning with proposals on how to restructure school systems and later on how the failure of the school system is a form of academic child abuse.
In 1997, Engelmann helped establish the National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI) and served as the Chairman of the Board until his death on February 15, 2019. NIFDI is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing continuous administrative and curricular support to schools and districts as they implement Direct Instruction programs. Additionally, it conducts, promotes, and publicizes high-quality research on the effects of Direct Instruction implementations. After decades of writing on instruction and the educational system, Engelmann’s passion for helping students and perfecting the education system did not wane. He continued to develop new Direct Instruction programs and write about critical issues in education. In his spare time, he enjoyed painting, nature hikes, planting trees, and spending time with family.
