Research on Direct Instruction continues to appear. Many studies are found in general education and social science journals. The Journal of Direct Instruction is exclusively devoted to publishing scholarly work on DI. Direct Instruction News provides timely information about recent events in the DI community. The Association for Direct Instruction convenes annual conferences on DI and links practitioners and researchers from around the nation. See The Journal of Direct Instruction and DI News.
The NIFDI Research Office produces technical reports analyzing data from schools across the country that have implemented direct instruction. See NIFDI Research Reports.
A very important issue facing anyone who studies Direct Instruction is ensuring fidelity of treatment - that the program is implemented as it was designed. Learning to teach in an explicit and systematic manner takes practice, and studies show that fidelity of treatment has a strong impact on student outcomes.
Knowing the extent to which programs have been implemented with fidelity can also impact the accuracy of meta-analysis and literature reviews. Because fidelity of implementation is so important, researchers and practitioners have developed instruments to assess how well DI is implemented and the extent to which classroom and school practices conform to the original designs.
Researchers who would like to add their contributions to our research database or communicate with the NIFDI research office regarding their work may contact us at research@nifdi.org.
Helping Kids Soar: Children Reaching Their Full Potential with Direct Instruction
Helping Kids Soar from NIFDI
Direct Instruction is often used to help students who are stuggling academically. DI can be used to accelerate the learning of higher performning students, too. "Helping Kids Soar: Children Reaching Their Full Potential with Direct Instruction," portrays two schools in different parts of the country that have used DI successfully with all children.
All Direct Instruction programs are based on careful studies of how children learn. Two pioneers in this work were Wesley Becker and Siegfried Engelmann. Others who have contributed decades of writings to this area are Douglas Carnine and Russell Gersten.
Research on How Children Learn
Even though many curricula include some elements of effective instruction, this does not mean they are necessarily effective. Direct Instruction (capitalized), the programs developed by Siegfried Engelmann and colleagues, incorporates all of these elements. Other direct instruction (no capitals) curricula incorporate only some of the effective elements.
Siegfried Engelmann, the founder of Direct Instruction, and Geoff Colvin, Ph.D., a longtime collaborator, have developed a rubric for identifying authentic DI programs - ones that conform to all of the elements of effective instruction. See Rubric for Identifying Authentic DI Programs
A key element of effective instruction is ensuring that students master the material they are studying. This is often called "mastery learning." In a 1999 article, Engelmann describes how teaching to mastery involves aligning student needs and the content of a curriculum and shows how DI programs accomplish this. See Student-Program Alignment and Teaching to Mastery
An article by Cheryl Schieffer and colleagues, published in 2002, shows how one DI program, Reading Mastery, embodies the elements of effective instruction. Schieffer et al, JODI, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 87-119
