Direct Instruction (DI) is a term for the explicit teaching of a skill-set using

lecture A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...

s or demonstrations of the material to students. A particular subset of direct instruction, denoted by capitalization as Direct Instruction, refers to a specific example of the approach developed by

Siegfried Engelmann Siegfried "Zig" Engelmann (November 26, 1931 – February 15, 2019) was an American educationalist who co-developed the approach to instruction termed "Direct Instruction" (DI). Engelmann was Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Ore ...

and Wesley C. Becker. DI teaches by explicit instruction,
Explicit Instruction. LearnLab. Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. Retrieved 2017-06-12. in contrast to exploratory models such as

inquiry-based learning Inquiry-based learning (also spelled as enquiry-based learning in British English) is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios. It contrasts with traditional education, which generally relies on the teac ...

. DI includes

tutorial A tutorial, in education, is a method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture, a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complet ...

s, participatory laboratory classes,

discussion Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

recitation A recitation in a general sense is the act of reciting from memory, or a formal reading of verse or other writing before an audience. Public recitation is the act of reciting a work of writing before an audience. Academic recitation In ac ...

seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some parti ...

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the on ...

observation Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. Th ...

active learning Active learning is "a method of learning in which students are actively or experientially involved in the learning process and where there are different levels of active learning, depending on student involvement." states that "students partici ...

, practica, or

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

s. Model includes "I do" (instructor), "We do" (instructor and student/s), "You do" (student practices on their own with instructor monitoring). DI relies on a systematic and scripted curriculum, delivered by highly trained instructors. On the premise that all students can learn and all teachers successfully teach if given effective training in specific techniques, teachers may be evaluated based on measurable student learning. In some special education programs, direct instruction is used in

resource rooms A resource room is a separate, remedial classroom in a school where students with educational disabilities, such as specific learning disabilities, are given direct, specialized instruction and academic remediation and assistance with homework ...

, when teachers assist with

homework Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside the classroom. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, mathematical exercises to be completed, informatio ...

completion and academic remediation.Effective direct instruction practices in special education settings
Englert, Carol S. ''Remedial & Special Education'', Vol 5(2), Mar-Apr 1984, 38-47

History

DISTAR was a specific direct instruction model developed by Siegfried Engelmann and Wesley C. Becker. Engelmann and Becker sought to identify teaching methods that would accelerate the progress of historically disadvantaged elementary school students.Kim, T. & Axelrod, S. (2005)
Direct Instruction: An Educators’ Guide and a Plea for Action
''The Behavior Analyst Today, 6.(2),'' Page 111-123 Direct Instruction was first formally implemented at a preschool program for children from impoverished backgrounds at the University of Illinois (mid-1960s). The team implementing DI consisted of Siegfried Engelmann, Carl Bereiter, and Jean Osborn. The program incorporated short instructional periods, usually 20 to 30 minutes a day. The instructional periods focused on language, reading, and math. The children showed vast improvement which led to further development of the approach used. When further developing DI, they applied the same principles to create a formal instructional program that included language, reading, and math. The formal program was termed DISTAR, for Direct Instruction System for Teaching Arithmetic and Reading. In the late 1960s, Project Follow Through included DI as one of the programs to compare the outcomes of over 20 different educational interventions in high-poverty communities. The study was a large government-funded study that was implemented over a multiyear period. DI was implemented in 19 different sites which ranged in demographic and geographic characteristics. The results indicated that DI was the only intervention that had significantly positive impacts on all outcomes that were measured. Direct Instruction has been effectively delivered through peers to students with

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...

.Marchand-Martella, & Martella (2002
An Overview and Research Summary of Peer-Delivered Corrective Reading
''The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (2),'' 214 -235 Peer delivery offers teachers new ways to use the curriculum. The approach has also been examined as a model to assist students in a

resource room A resource room is a separate, remedial classroom in a school where students with educational disabilities, such as specific learning disabilities, are given direct, specialized instruction and academic remediation and assistance with homework ...

with homework completion, bolster executive functioning skills and improve teacher efficiency.

Success for All

Another popular direct instruction approach is the

Success for All Success for All (SFA) are standards-based Comprehensive School Reform curricula for early childhood through middle school, produced by the nonprofit organization Success for All Foundation (SFAF) of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Psychologist Robert Sl ...

program, which uses

scripted teaching Scripted teaching or scripted instruction refers to commercial reading programs that have highly structured lessons, often with specific time allotments for teaching specific skills, and often word-for-word scripts of what the teacher is to say. Scr ...

to instruct elementary children in

phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to read and write an alphabetic language (such as English, Arabic or Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes), and the letters or gro ...

intensive reading instruction program. What the teacher says is carefully scripted in the program. The program was designed by

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

professor

Robert Slavin Robert Edward Slavin (September 17, 1950 – April 24, 2021) was an American psychologist who studied educational and academic issues. He was known for the ''Success for All'' educational model. Until his death, he was a distinguished professor ...

in the mid-1980s for failing schools in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. The program requires a dedicated 90 minutes of reading instruction each day in which the teacher must follow a pre-ordained lesson plan that has every minute filled with scripted instruction and specific activities designed to teach reading.

Jonathan Kozol Jonathan Kozol (born September 5, 1936) is an American writer, progressive activist, and educator, best known for his books on public education in the United States. Education and experience Born to Harry Kozol and Ruth (Massell) Kozol, Jona ...

criticized the program in his book, ''

The Shame of the Nation ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'', for being excessively dogmatic, utilitarian, and authoritarian. English language learners (ELL) students could also benefit from Direct Instruction. The program for teaching English to Spanish speaking students begins with teachers giving instruction in Spanish and then gradually incorporating more and more English in the directions. As with all Direct Instruction programs, the Direct Instruction groups are also kept small and with others of similar skill levels.

Effectiveness

Features that make Direct Instruction effective: *Only 10% of material is new while the remaining 90% of material is a review of previously taught content. *Students are grouped based on their skill levels that is determined by assessments administered before commencing the Direct Instruction program. *Emphasis on student's pace by either slowing down, reteaching or accelerating through easily understood material. *External validity of Direct Instruction has been tested and the program is research-based. Debates about the efficacy of DI have raged since before the final results of

Project Follow Through ''Follow Through'' was the largest and most expensive experimental project in education funded by the U.S. federal government that has ever been conducted. The most extensive evaluation of ''Follow Through'' data covers the years 1968–1977; howev ...

were published; however, there is substantial empirical research supporting its effectiveness. A meta-analysis published by Adams & Engelmann (1996), a chief architect of the DI program, finds a "mean effect size average per study...(as) more than .75, which confirms that the overall effect is substantial." In some special education programs, it is used in a

with small groups of students. Some research has shown benefit with this model. Direct Instruction is used with students from every population segment (with regard to poverty, culture, and race). In

, the DI model was ranked first in achievement for poor students, students who were not poor, urban students, rural students,

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

students,

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

students, and

Native American Native Americans or Native American may refer to: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North and South America and their descendants * Native Americans in the United States * Indigenous peoples in Cana ...

students. Today, many of the Bureau of Indian Affair's highest-performing schools use Direct Instruction materials. The Baltimore Curriculum Project has many schools with Free and Reduced Lunch Rates above 75% serving student populations that are more than 90% African American. These schools have shown strong achievement gains using Direct Instruction.Rebar, M. (2007).
Academic acceleration in first grade using the Direct Instruction model
(Report No. 2007-1). Cheney, WA: Eastern Washington University. Meta-analysis of 85

single-subject design In design of experiments, single-subject curriculum or single-case research design is a research design most often used in applied fields of psychology, education, and human behaviour in which the subject serves as his/her own control, rather than ...

studies comparing direct instruction to other teaching strategies found the effects to be substantial for students with learning disabilities; however, when qualified by IQ and reading levels

strategy instruction Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

(SI) had better effects for the high IQ group. For the low-IQ discrepancy groups, higher effect sizes were yielded for a Combined DI and SI Model when compared to all competing models. With the exception of handwriting, DI's effects were all above 0.8 (i.e., reading and mathematics). John Hattie's Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement (2009) summarizes the results of four meta-analyses that examined Direct Instruction. These analyses incorporated 304 studies of over 42,000 students. Across all of these students, the average effect size was 0.59 and was significantly larger than those of any other curriculum Hattie studied. Direct Instruction is recognized as one of two effective models of comprehensive school reform and, in many cases, can be integrated into a tiered model system to address students with developing problems.Stewart, R.M., Martella, R.C., Marchand-Martella, N.E. & Benner, G.J. (2005)
Three-Tier Models of Reading and Behavior
''JEIBI'' 2 (3), 115-123 The findings from

, conducted in a variety of selected communities throughout the United States, suggested that Direct Instruction is the most effective model for teaching academic skills and for affective outcomes (e.g.,

self-esteem Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth or abilities. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) d ...

) of children. Recent large-scale studies (1997–2003), such as the Baltimore Curriculum Project, show that it is possible to help schools that are in the lowest twenty percent with respect to academic achievement steadily improve until they are performing well above average. In some cases, school achievement improved from the 16th percentile to above the 90th percentile.

Criticism

Common criticisms: Teachers often express animosity towards the methods of Direct Instruction claiming that it limits both student creativity and teacher creativity in the classroom due to its strict, scripted procedures. Another common concern of those who disagree with Direct Instruction programs is their expense. Many argue that the current expense of implementing Direct Instruction programs is too high and unreasonable for low SES schools or school districts. Some prices of student workbooks are about $20 each while teacher workbook pricing can range from $180-$232 as seen on the McGraw Hill website, who is the main distributor of Direct Instruction materials (NIFDI, 2005). Other criticisms: One three-year study of methods of teaching reading showed that highly scripted, teacher-directed methods of teaching reading were not as effective as traditional methods that allowed a more flexible approach.Ryder RJ, Burton JL, Silberg A. 2006. Longitudinal study of direct instruction effects from first through third grade. Journal of Educational Research, 99, 3, 179-191 Urban teachers in particular expressed great concern over the DI's lack of sensitivity to issues of

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse < ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...

, and

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

. The former president of the

National Science Teachers Association The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), founded in 1944 (as the National Science Teachers Association) and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is an association of science teachers in the United States and is the largest organization ...

(NSTA), Anne Tweed, questioned whether direct instruction was the most effective science teaching strategy. In the December 15, 2004 NSTA Reports she concluded that "direct instruction alone cannot replace the in-depth experience with science concepts that inquiry-based strategies provide." Some critics also see DI as a betrayal of the

humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...

foundations of adult public education, or as a "canned" or "teacher proof" curriculum deliverable via unskilled teachers. In Australia, where DI has been used in schools among several remote Indigenous Australians communities in Queensland, DI has been criticised for its high cost in return for at best modest improvements in literacy and numeracy levels, as well as its US-centric theme which is alien to indigenous Australian cultures.Misty Adoniou
What went wrong at Aurukun School?
''The Conversation'', July 8, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016

References

External links

National Institute for Direct InstructionWhat the Data Really Show: Direct Instruction Really Works!Educational Resources web site: A Professional Staff Development Company Specializing in Direct Instruction ImplementationsZig EngelmannSuccess for All Foundation website
* ttp://www.zigsite.com/PDFs/rubric.pdf#search=%22direct%20instruction%20rubric%22 Rubric for Identifying Authentic Direct Instruction Programs {{DEFAULTSORT:Direct instruction Pedagogy Educational psychology Behaviorism