SRA 2Inform is an online application available through McGraw-Hill that allows teachers to easily collect student data and monitor progress to inform instruction. This online system stores data on curriculum-embedded assessments from nine of the Direct Instruction programs including Reading Mastery Signature Edition, Corrective Reading, Connecting Math Concepts, and Essentials for Algebra.  

Recent improvements include the ability for administrators to instantly access reports to measure and track student progress. Coaches and principals can view teacher, group, and individual student data. With the school-level view, users can aggregate data across instructional groups. District administrators can also aggregate group data across all schools. 

Users can print, view, and save various reports that can be used to help improve the quality of the DI implementation. Administrators can use the information to:

• Identify instructional needs and goals
• Communicate progress to an educational team
• Generate reports for all stakeholders including parents

To learn more, visit the SRA 2Inform website or contact your McGraw-Hill representative.

The National Institute for Direct Instruction and NIFDI Press is delighted to announce our latest book, The Science and Success of Engelmann's Direct Instruction! 

For almost a half-century, Siegfried Engelmann has shown how all children can learn if they are taught effectively. The Direct Instruction (DI) curricular programs he developed reflect the most stringent requirements of the scientific world. They build on sound theoretical understandings of how effective instruction and learning occur, they involve painstaking attention to each detailed step of the instructional process, and they have been validated with rigorous tests of their efficacy. Engelmann’s work has transformed the instructional experience of thousands of students and has also led to noted improvements in school behavioral climates and instructional practices. This book is a tribute to the legacy and genius of Siegfried Engelmann and his decades of work in developing the Direct Instruction (DI) curricular programs.

Read more ...

New editions of REWARDS Intermediate and Secondary - programs designed to teach students strategies for decoding multisyllabic words, learning academic vocabulary, and building fluency - are now available through Sopris Learning.

Exciting updates to these programs include:

• Common Core State Standards alignment
• Added instruction on the meanings of prefixes and suffixes
• Expanded instruction on academic and content-area vocabulary, enhanced with visual displays
• Text-dependent comprehension questions
• An updated lesson format that supports ease of instruction
• Notations on explicit instruction procedures throughout the lessons
• Progress monitoring assessments at the end of each unit
• Digital tools and resources including online lesson displays, illustrated vocabulary displays, student review sheets, assessments, and more

And, now you can get REWARDS Intermediate on your digital device!

Sopris Learning recently announced that the newest edition of REWARDS Intermediate is now available as an eBook as part of their new Learning eLibrary! The electronic version of this popular program is available for a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets, such as Apple's iPad. By using the digital version of the book, educators can:

• Navigate content with features that include an interactive table of contents, intrabook links, a slider bar, and page jump
• Highlight, bookmark, add notes, and see annotations all in one place-all of which automatically sync to the cloud when moving between online and offline reading
• Toggle between two distinct reading options- a fully interactive, resource-laden view and a page-fidelity view, which shows pages exactly as they appear in the printed book
• Utilize embedded links to videos, printable tools, and educator resources
• Search across all book content and user annotations

For more information about the REWARDS Intermediate eBook, visit Sopris Learning online. An eBook version of REWARDS Secondary will also soon be available through Sopris Learning.

During a recent visit to Aurukun's Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy - a Direct Instruction school that receives implementation support from the National Institute from Direct Instruction - Northern Territory Education Minister Peter Chandler observed Direct Instruction classrooms. He noted that DI is a program that works and "doesn't allow them [students] to fall through the cracks." He continued, saying, "...teachers are making sure kids understand what they're taught before the lesson's over." The government in the Northern Territory of Australia is considering Direct Instruction for its own remote schools.

Read the full text article on Herald Sun News Online.