CNN will air a special August 30th about African America students in education today. The special, Soledad O'Brien's Great Expectations: A Black in America Special, will visit Harvest Prep/Seed Academy in Minneapolis where Direct Instruction is utilized. Harvest Prep/Seed Academy was founded about 25 years ago by Eric and Ella Mahmoud. The schools enjoy remarkable results, with student performance besting more severely disadvantaged students throughout the state of Minnesota. Jason Burns, a teacher at the school, says "These young scholars are going to inspire you and be an educational beacon of light for other young scholars".

This special program will air on CNN at 10pm ET/PT. See a preview here. For more information on Harvest Prep/Seed Academy, visit them online at www.seed-harvest.org. 

After a challenging two and a half years, the Guahan Academy Charter School successfully secured its funding and a facility, setting the wheels in motion to open as Guam's first charter school this fall. The pre-K through 12th grade school is sponsored by NIFDI and will utilize DI for core instructional programs.

Donna Dwiggins, Ph.D, CEO/Principal said upon hearing the good news, “This is a good day for education on Guam.” 

With four months to opening day and no time to spare, Dwiggins swiftly put her team into action registering students and preparing Guahan Academy Charter School to open its doors by August 2013. By the end of the 4-week registration period, the school had collected a list of 800 applicants. This was an amazing turnout, especially since Guahan Academy Charter School was only allotted 500 student slots for this upcoming school year.

Read more ...

Educators from literally around the world attended the National Institute for Direct Instruction first National Direct Instruction Training Institute in San Antonio, Texas the week of August 4-8. Tom Torkelson, Co-Founder of IDEA Schools, presented an excellent opening keynote, highlighting his views on education and poverty. Simply put, he believes education is the solution to poverty. By giving all learners excellent instruction, they will be equipped to take full advantage of options they may not have been able to without a solid education.

Along with training on all of the major DI programs, there were 18 future trainers that took part in the intensive Training of Trainers Academy. A Leadership Academy for administrators attracted equally strong numbers.

Read more ...

By Jordan Livermore, Silver City Elementary
Contributors: Lindy Beyea, Jill Short, Silver City Elementary and Lyn House, National Institute for Direct Instruction

Each year, approximately 1,000 students attend Silver City Elementary School (SCES) in rural North Georgia. In 2007, SCES noticed that an increasing number of students were entering third, fourth, and fifth grades reading significantly below grade level. The reading problems negatively affected the students’ progress in all content areas. SCES obtained a small grant of $1,500, which was used to purchase Corrective Reading Decoding, a Direct Instruction (DI) program. Two school counselors and one special education teacher implemented the program with three small groups during the school’s Response to Intervention (“RTI”) block. The three small groups consisted of third through fifth graders, and the students were grouped using placement test data alone—not by grade level. Therefore, students from multiple grade levels participated in each group. The students achieved measureable gains in reading due to this intervention: in one year, some students progressed from non-readers to fluent readers.

Read more ...