In February, NIFDI continued its on-going work in Australia, training 206 teachers and administrators in Direct Instruction programs. Twelve trainers from across the United States traveled Down Under to provide sessions over the course of a week. On some days, trainers and participants put in 12 long hours in order to get eight cohorts trained in NIFDI's Routines and Expectations module. 

Dignitaries such as Australia's Executive Director for the Northern Territory, Ken Davis, and Indigenous leader Noel Pearson joined educators in launching the latest projects in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, speaking at a banquet hosted on Tuesday, February 3rd, in honor of the education initiative to serve students in remote schools.

Following the week-long training, four of the 12 staff members stayed and two more arrived from the States to begin providing support on-site, such as NIFDI's Implementation Manager, Paula Bleakley (shown right). Join us on Facebook to see more pictures in our Australia photo album.

Curious about the day-to-day experiences of life Down Under? One of NIFDI's Implementation Managers, Dr. Sheri Wilkins, has been blogging about her time in Australia. Dr. Wilkins says her purpose in writing the blog is to share with educators in other regions some of the similarities and differences she's noticing while she's there. She also thought it would be fun to share a little bit about her activities and wonderings. Check out Sheri's Blog.