NIFDI has produced two short video demonstrations to help educators deliver DI lessons remotely. One shows how a Corrective Reading Decoding lesson would be taught in a distance learning setting and how a coach could interact with an instructor. It also includes detailed information on how to access McGraw-Hill's connectEd platform. (See below for information related to free access to student material at my.mheducation.com.) The other video is an example of teaching Reading Mastery. This also shows how a DI coach can support an instructor remotely.

Please watch these short 10-12-minute clips and give us feedback as to their usefulness. If you have suggestions for other videos that would be helpful, send them to us at training@nifdi.org!

In response to the Covid-19 virus, McGraw-Hill is giving free access to student textbooks for Reading Mastery and Connecting Math Concepts for the rest of the 2020 school year (end of May). To gain access go to https://my.mheducation.com

Log In - DIstudent2020

Password - DIstudent2020

Note: this is just for textbooks (not workbooks). Corrective Reading Decoding textbooks are not available.

If you do not have an online subscription to Connect Ed, you can purchase one for 80 dollars. It is good for one year and covers multiple programs. Contact your McGraw-Hill sales representative. Click here to search for your sales representative.

Linda A. Meyer, Ph.D., died December 31, 2019, in Urbana, Illinois. She held B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Oregon.

Linda's connection with Direct Instruction began in Champaign at the University of Illinois, where, as a graduate student, she worked at the Bereiter- Engelmann Preschool and with another project with Down syndrome learners at the Children's Research Center.
Her work was instrumental in changing the expectations educators have of mentally developmentally delayed children. In the words of Doug Carnine, "In the past many believed that children with Down syndrome could not learn to read. In the 1960s Zig and Linda Meyer demonstrated that Down syndrome children could learn to read."

Linda came out to Oregon in the 70's to work on the Follow Through Project. She also worked with Engelmann and others in the development of the Corrective Reading Program. She returned to Illinois, and directed longitudinal research on children and learning at the Center for the Study of Reading. In 1996, she received the Harold Mitzel Award for Educational Practice from the Journal of Educational Research for the results of that study.

Donations in Linda's memory may be made to Crisis Nursery, Urbana. Go to crisisnursery.net or call 217-337-2731.

Wolfe Street Academy in Baltimore, Maryland just received an unprecedented 8 year extension on their charter, and Govans Elementary was awarded a 5 year extension. Typically, schools receive 3 year extensions. Both of these successful schools are run by the Baltimore Curriculum Project, and feature Direct Instruction as their core curriculum.

Wolfe Street Academy serves mostly Hispanic and immigrant children and has had the same principal for 15 years. Baltimore City Schools chief Sonja Santelises said Wolfe Street has "embraced the power" that a high-functioning school can "play in the revitalization" of an area of the city. Principal Mark Gaither comments on the extension, "I am thrilled. It provides such a sense of stability for the families, the staff and the community to know that the school will be around for eight more years."

NIFDI sends congratulations to the staff and students of both schools. We are proud to continue to partner with Govans Elementary and Wolfe Street Academy in their efforts to provide quality education to their students.