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News from NIFDI

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With the closure of the Association for Direct Instruction, NIFDI has been seeking ways to assist the DI community to stay connected. Some of these efforts include:

  • facilitating the DI list serve;
  • revamping our website to include a wide variety of DI resources such as popular bloggers, a complete library of past DI News and Journal of Direct Instruction issues and various texts ADI used to market;
  • offering open enrollment training events;
  • increasing awareness of current DI resources, news and information through NIFDI News!;
  • and, networking with other researchers in the field through our DI Research Group and Directory.

To help make the training events more affordable as well as create a link among the DI community, we are now offering NIFDI Memberships. Members will enjoy several special benefits:

  • 20% off our outreach training events
  • 20% off materials
  • Advance access to web resources
  • and more!

Regular NIFDI Memberships are only $50.00 annually and students can join for $30.00 per year. Institutional memberships, good for up to five staff people, are $250.00 billed annually.

Former ADI Members: Send us your membership number and expiration date, and we will convert your ADI membership to a NIFDI membership at no charge.

Ready to join NIFDI as a charter member? Download the membership registration form today!

The National Institute for Direct Instruction proudly announces the addition of a publication arm to the organization: NIFDI Press! NIFDI Press Logo Main FINAL2Dedicated to publishing high quality works that support the development of effective implementations of Direct Instruction programs, the press will publish manuals and books designed to help a variety of audiences purposes:

  • teachers, coaches, and administrators implementing DI programs in their schools;
  • parents preparing or supporting their children in academic success;
  • researchers in search of theoretical and empirical studies regarding the development, efficacy and implementation of DI.

The Press will also be distributing titles previously available through the Association for Direct Instruction (ADI), including Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Teaching Needy Kids and Theory of Instruction.

Both NIFDI Press publications and books previously available through ADI can be purchased through our website or by calling 877.485.1973. New NIFDI Press publications will be released starting Summer 2014. Watch our website or follow us on Facebook to hear about upcoming releases!

Jennifer Weber is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University in Teaching as Applied Behavior Analysis, a program that is part of the Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS). Through NIFDI's fellowship program, Jennifer conducted research on the implementation of Corrective Reading (CR) with students with and without disabilities at a Title I school.

Jennifer tested the effects of Corrective Reading on third through fifth grade students in CABAS classrooms who were identified as reading below proficient according to the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK), Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), and DIBELS. These classrooms utilize behavioral principles to teach children with and without disabilities. Twenty-five students participated in the Corrective Reading intervention and were matched to 25 counterparts within the school that functioned at similar academic levels.

The study compared the performance of students who received CR as an intervention with the performance of students who received teacher-developed reading lessons. After four months, the students receiving CR outperformed the comparison students as their independent reading level increased one to four levels on the DRA.

Ms. Weber's summary of her findings is forthcoming and will be made available in the research portion of this website.

WWC logo2The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is an organization established in 2002 that is charged with producing user-friendly guides for educators on effective instructional practices. Many of you also are likely familiar with NIFDI's reservations and concerns with the procedures and reports the WWC publishes, which are documented on our website.

That said, a recent report published by the What Works Clearinghouse details the effectiveness of Spelling Mastery for students with learning disabilities. Spelling Mastery, a Direct Instruction program designed for students in grades 1-6 to teach phonemic, morphemic and whole-word strategies, demonstrated "potentially positive" effects in writing with students with learning disabilities.

Read the full report from the WWC.

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