The NIFDI Research Department recently released an update of the document Writings on Direct Instruction: A Bibliography, as well as the smaller subject area bibliographies. The comprehensive bibliography contains summaries of all currently known writings and research on Direct Instruction. The subject area bibliographies break down the comprehensive bibliography into the following areas:

• Students with learning disabilities
• Adult students
• Students outside the elementary setting ELL students
• African American students
• Mathematics achievement
• School attendance
• Project Follow Through
• Research syntheses of efficacy studies on DI

Because the body of research related to Direct Instruction is so large, some studies may not have been included or may be wrongly classified. Researchers who know of other studies that should be added, including unpublished manuscripts such as dissertations and thesis projects, or who have other suggestions for corrections are asked to send this information to the NIFDI Research Office at research@nifdi.org.

These bibliographies are available free and can be downloaded from here on the NIFDI website

As a part of the Excellence in Education Awards evening, NIFDI and McGraw-Hill Education are hosting the second Direct Instruction Community Fair. The fair will be an opportunity for participants to "show and tell" about their application of DI.

The format is simple. First, submit the brief application included in the conference brochure. After review, if the application is selected, we will provide a board for you to display up to a 36x36" poster. There will also be a table in front of the display board where handouts or display material can be placed. Then, as people enjoy the social hour, you can share your story of how DI has impacted your school or district.

Possible topics could include a University program featuring DI teacher prep, a school district showing results attained through DI, a charter school recruitment. Really there is no limit, as long as you can explain through your application how your proposal will be of interest and of benefit to other DI users!

The event will be held Tuesday, July 26th from 5:30-8:00pm at the Hilton Eugene. Applications for participation are available as part of the conference brochure (see page 23) and are due June 1. 

The NIFDI Research Department recently released Technical Report 2016-1: Effective Direct Instruction Implementations: The Impact of Administrative Decisions and Time.

This report uses data from different studies and settings to examine two general factors that make DI implementations more effective: 1) administrative decisions and practices and 2) experience with the program. The data show that DI students make significantly more progress at mastery and have significantly higher achievement when:

• teachers implement the programs with greater fidelity
• teachers have been trained for the specific programs they are teaching
• teachers are given time and support to prepare lessons
• teachers have more experience in teaching the programs
• DI has been implemented for a longer period of time
• students are taught for the recommended time each week
• at-risk students are given extra instructional time ("double dosing")
• students start learning with DI in kindergarten 

The report is free and can be downloaded from the NIFDI website, or pdf click here . 

IOWA READS just released a report on the after-school program they sponsor at a local Boys and Girls Club. The project utilizes Corrective Reading Decoding to help students in grades 3-5 and FUNNIX in grades K-2. The results are quite impressive.

Corrective Reading Results
The 23 third grade Corrective Reading students improved an average of 323 points on the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), compared to the average 157 point improvement made by their classmates that did not participate in the project! The 24 fourth grade students who have been in the project for 2 years made an improvement of 490 points, versus the 240 point improvement of their non-participating peers.

FUNNIX Results
The FUNNIX program was introduced at the Kindergarten level 4 years ago to assist students in catching up on the skills that many of their peers learned at home before entering the school system. Thirty of the lowest performing students were included in the treatment group and scored a 20 on the Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers (FAST). The remaining 65 students scored a 35 on the FAST. Substantial gains were made in the course of one year of FUNNIX instruction, nearly eliminating the performance gap between the two groups. For additional information on FUNNIX, a computer-based DI program go to http://www.funnix.com

The full report can be accessed pdf here .