In February, UK-based Teacher Talk Radio hosted the podcast Direct Instruction Beyond Rosenshine. The 90-minute show featured Terri Leighton, Principal at Dixons-Manningham Primary in the United Kingdom, NIFDI President Kurt Engelmann, NIFDI Outreach Director Bryan Wickman, and Suzy Wybrow, NIFDI UK Outreach Specialist. Engelmann and Wickman gave an overview and brief history of DI, and Terri and Suzy talked about their experience with the programs.
Terri said how her school has nearly all students reading at or above grade level and has gone from 5 classes of Corrective Reading down to 1 due to the strong foundation students receive in their earlier years. Click here to listen to the podcast.
A second podcast focusing on DI was featured in an episode of Progressively Incorrect. Marcy Stein is a veteran DI researcher, author, and teacher educator. She is a retired Professor Emeritus from the University of Washington, Tacoma. The podcast, titled Engelmann’s Direct Instruction and Project Follow Through, is an interesting 60-minute exploration of the success of the DI Model in Project Follow Through and the failure of the US Department of Education to disseminate the results of the largest education experiment in history. The information is particularly relevant in light of the current interest in the science of reading. Click here to listen to the podcast.