Programs

877.485.1973 | 541.485.1973
Info@NIFDI.org

877.485.1973 | Info@NIFDI.org

What our partners say…

“I would use the word transformational to describe our relationship with NIFDI.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Robin Shakespeare, Director of Education - Midland Academies Trust, UK

“NIFDI support was exemplary. It was structured in such a way as the teachers did not feel overwhelmed.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Nazam Hussain, School Psychologist - Bradford, UK

“Our principals have all agreed that NIFDI support is the single most changing professional development experience they have experienced in their careers.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Sean McKenzie, Director of Support Services - Bethel School District - Spanaway, WA

“The support for me as an administrator–looking at the data, and making decisions was really valuable. I couldn’t have done it by myself.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Rhonda Richetta, Principal - City Springs Elementary/Middle School - Baltimore, MD

“The small, bite-size level of feedback has supported me in improving as a teacher.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Ann Fuentes, Assistant Principal of Instruction - Idea Mission Academy - Mission, TX

“NIFDI has been a game-changer in terms of building student confidence. They have fun with the program.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Selina Ortiz, Assistant Principal of Instruction - IDEA Edinburg Academy - Edinburg, TX

“Working with NIFDI means you are working with the acknowledged authority on Direct Instruction.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Robin Shakespeare, Director of Education -Midland Academies Trust, UKm

“The thoroughness and robustness of the training was amazing to see. It was rigorous and professional, but sensitive to the individual.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Nazam Hussain, School Psychologist - Bradford, UK

“Schools with NIFDI have more and better discussions about how what they are doing is impacting individual student achievement.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Sean McKenzie, Director of Support Services - Bethel School District - Spanaway, WA.

“The support was very targeted.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Rhonda Richetta, Principal - City Springs Elementary/Middle School - Baltimore, MD

“The schools like the support and they are seeing the results”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Nazam Hussain, School Psychologist - Bradford, UK

“The teachers have gained so much knowledge behind the data tracking. They love the assistance… end of week goals, end of month goals…”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Selina Ortiz, Assistant Principal of Instruction - IDEA Edinburg Academy - Edinburg, TX

“NIFDI Implementation Managers build relationships. She is here to help and support. It is a caring, comforting approach.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Ann Fuentes, Assistant Principal of Instruction - Idea Mission Academy - Mission, TX

"The most valuable tool for a teacher is a NIFDI coach… side by side, shoulder to shoulder, to model for you, show you and give you feedback.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Rhonda Richetta, Principal - City Springs Elementary/Middle School - Baltimore, MD

"The tools and procedures taught in training are applicable... When I enter a new program the teachers pick it up easily.”

Click here to view our Partner Perspectives videos. Selina Ortiz, Assistant Principal of Instruction - IDEA Edinburg Academy - Edinburg, TX

*Please note, we do not sell Horizons materials. Click on the "Where to Purchase" button below to view purchasing options or click here to find your local DI representative.*

Horizons is an innovative program for teaching reading that provides solid, systematic instruction using proven Direct Instruction techniques. Horizons lessons are briskly paced and built around systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. Students employ strategies of incrementally increasing difficulty and exit the program with a solid foundation in fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. Horizons has the power to prevent reading problems and to accelerate the skills of students already showing average or above average performance. Traditional orthography (the regular alphabet) is used throughout the program. For a paper comparing Horizons and Reading Mastery, pdf click here .

Horizons is typically used with young students who possess basic entry level skills, such as letter names. Younger students in Horizons are taught in small, homogeneous groups that allow for optimal opportunities for practice and teacher monitoring. Older elementary readers may be taught in whole-class groups. The Fast Track A-B version of the program collapses two years of instruction into one.

Horizons Fast Track C-D provides the structure and challenging materials that develop a strong vocabulary, multiple decoding skills, and world knowledge that allow students to understand, interpret, and use new information. Horizons C-D Fast Track is the equivalent of the reading components of Reading Mastery Signature, Grade 2 and Grade 3 collapsed into one year of instruction. The program is typically used with students who are getting a later start with reading instruction or whose first language is not English.

Horizons C-D emphasizes reading to learn via high-interest stories and expository passages that incorporate study skills and critical thinking. It includes all the elements that make Direct Instruction programs so effective including explicit strategies, carefully sequenced instruction, frequent teacher feedback, and a high student success rate.

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*Please note, we do not sell Funnix. Click on the "Where to Purchase" button below to view purchasing options.*

Funnix is a small-step, carefully sequenced web-based reading program designed to teach your child to read—and to enjoy reading—as efficiently as possible. Funnix teaches all the skills necessary for children to become successful readers: decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Upon completion of the 220 Funnix lessons, children will have command of a vocabulary of about 2000 words, including multisyllabic and irregular words. Children who master Funnix also have the skills to decode thousands of words that aren’t introduced in the program.

Funnix can be used by experienced teachers as well as paraprofessionals, student mentors, and adult volunteers. Funnix requires only that a literate person sit with the child during each lesson and provide positive feedback. This person controls the mouse, makes sure the child responds to the tasks presented by the built-in narrator and determines whether to repeat tasks, review exercises, or continue in the program.

Students of the Direct Instruction programs Horizons may easily be transitioned into the appropriate level of Funnix. (Reading Mastery Classic, Level II students will have ideally reached at least lesson #89 in order to have encountered conventional print.)

Funnix Beginning Reading and Funnix Beginning Math were recognized for making a positive difference in education by K12 leaders who named them to District Administration magazine’s “Readers’ Choice Top 100 Product for 2013.”

The winners, selected by District Administration’s editors from a record 1,800-plus nominations, were products that received the highest number of nominations and best descriptions from K12 leaders. The Readers’ Choice Top 100 has been announced online and in the December 2013 issue of District Administration.

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Reading Mastery Classic and its successive edition, Reading Mastery Rainbow Edition, are powerful Direct Instruction reading programs that have been recognized for decades for transforming young learners into capable readers. Reading Mastery is the continuation of the DISTAR reading program under a new name. Reading Mastery is designed to help students in grades K-6 learn efficiently by using intensive, explicit and systematic teaching. The program is broken into briskly paced daily lessons that include systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. The program gradually incorporates more challenging strategies for developing fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Reading Mastery has the power to prevent reading problems and to accelerate the skills of students already showing average or above average performance.

The first two levels of Reading Mastery focus on the acquisition of accurate and fluent decoding skills. A special alphabet that is eventually faded in the second level of the program prompts young readers to sound out decodable texts independently. The third through sixth levels of Reading Mastery emphasize the development of comprehension and vocabulary. The third and fourth levels focus on using reading as a vehicle to learn new information. Stories at these levels integrate a great deal of science and social studies content and are used as vehicles through which students use reading to learn new information. The last two levels of Reading Mastery focus on literature. While the upper levels of Reading Mastery focus on comprehension and vocabulary, the programs continue work on developing decoding, word recognition, and fluency. Revisions to Reading Mastery have been designed to make the instruction easier and more efficient for teachers and students.

Reading Mastery Fast Cycle presents the content on Reading Mastery I and II in one school year. Stories and exercises in Fast Cycle are basically same as RM I and II, except half the lessons are not included. Fast Cycle can be used with younger children who can progress at an accelerated pace or students in second and third grade who are behind.

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Beginning in 199x, Direct Instruction reading and Direct Instruction language programs were integrated into literacy programs designed to meet state requirements for a comprehensive literacy program. The first comprehensive Direct Instruction literacy program produced was Journeys, a K-3 program which combined components of the Direct Instruction language programs and the Horizons reading program. Journeys was specifically designed to meet the Texas State Standards.

In 200x, a comprehensive program called Reading Mastery Plus was published specifically to meet Florida standards. Reading Mastery Plus was a K—5 program which utilized all the levels of Reading Mastery and components of Language for Learning, Language for Thinking and Reasoning and Writing.

In 200x, the Reading Mastery Plus program was replaced with the Reading Mastery Signature Edition. The Signature edition includes all the Reading Mastery Levels, and additional components from the Language for Learning program, the Language for Thinking program and the Reasoning and Writing programs.

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Implementing Direct Instruction Successfully

When implemented fully, Direct Instruction (DI) is unparalleled in its ability to improve student performance and enhance students’ self-esteem. In order to implement DI effectively, much more is required than simply purchasing instructional materials. The following two-part tutorial guides administrators, teachers, and coaches through the key features of a successful DI implementation. Part I provides an overview of the steps schools need to take in preparation for a DI implementation before school starts, while Part II provides an overview of the steps schools need to take after school has started.

IMPORTANT: This tutorial is an intensive video series comprised of 18 segments, each followed by a series of questions. Users should allow approximately three hours to watch the videos and complete the questions. NIFDI recognizes the high demand for time placed on school officials and, for this reason, has structured the tutorial so users may stop at any time and later resume where they left off.

Enroll in the tutorial here.