Direct Instruction Meets the Moment: Intervention at the Scale of Learning Loss
By Dr. Mary Eisele, VP of Intervention, McGraw Hill
We are all weary of conversations about learning loss. The focus on the past — from the trauma students experienced during the pandemic to the interruptions to academic progress — is disheartening for teachers and administrators. While there is much to celebrate and even more to look forward to, educational leaders must also, for the sake of students’ foundational skills and competencies, continue to grapple with the realities of learning loss. New data from NWEA indicates that our efforts to close gaps can’t cease just yet — if anything, we need to double down on our efforts to accelerate growth in foundational skills.
The Scale of the Disruption
The NWEA report reviewed data from 6.7 million students in grades 3–8. NWEA found that student growth still hasn’t caught up to pre-COVID growth rates. Education Week notes:
“On average, students will need the equivalent of 4.1 additional months of instruction in reading and 4.5 months in math to meet pre-pandemic levels of achievement…”
Many experts believe that the issue lies with scale. The scale of the disruption to learning was greater than our response, so gaps continued to build. Students need higher dosages of intervention, enough to produce the acceleration in growth required to catch up past compounded losses.
Direct Instruction (DI) is a teaching methodology, suitable for both targeted intervention and alternative core instruction, that is proven to close gaps and accelerate learning. It’s a precise, efficient, and effective way to ensure students gain mastery of foundational skills. When implemented with fidelity, Direct Instruction can help us address the scale of this crisis.
Intervention to Meet the Moment
In Direct Instruction, skills are introduced gradually, reinforced, and continually assessed, so that no student can fall behind. Content is delivered via scripted and quickly paced lessons, while teachers correct errors immediately and motivate students with positive reinforcement. It’s scalable and proven by decades of research.
Direct Instruction is based on two assumptions: All students can learn when taught correctly, regardless of history and background; and all teachers can be successful, given effective materials and presentation techniques.
It’s been said that DI programs “cut the fluff and teach the stuff.” Explicit instruction allows teachers to be precise, and the carefully designed scope and sequence ensures that students master prerequisite knowledge before moving on to new skills, disregarding information that’s unnecessary for later learning.
As district leaders develop strategies to address compounded academic losses at scale, I would encourage them to consider DI programs for targeted intervention or core instruction to help students gain ground in essential skills. Here are a few ways DI can accelerate growth:
Emphasis on Foundational Skills
Direct Instruction reading programs — examples from our portfolio include Reading Mastery Transformations and Corrective Reading — always ensure sufficient time is dedicated to foundational literacy skills. They have long been aligned with the fundamental principles of the Science of Reading, focused on developing word recognition skills in early grades and ensuring all students reach mastery.
The efficiency of DI programs, through a targeted focus on the most important skills, empowers students to become proficient readers quickly, building their confidence. Teachers will gain confidence, too, watching their students make progress in response to efficient, precise instructor-led lessons. It’s that precise instruction of the most important skills that will ultimately drive the acceleration needed to close post-pandemic gaps.
When it comes to foundational literacy skills, particularly in this post-COVID environment, every instructional moment is precious. DI can help teachers and administrators feel confident that they are maximizing instructional time with students.
Homogenous Grouping
While learning losses ultimately affected all learners, they didn’t affect all learners in the same way, and many teachers are faced with a more diverse set of student needs than ever before. Direct Instruction utilizes homogenous grouping according to students’ instructional needs to enable teachers to differentiate at scale. Coupled with DI’s placement tests, homogenous groups let teachers know exactly where students should begin instruction to obtain the necessary skills and reach mastery of important concepts.
Importantly, homogenous groups ensure that all students, rather than just some students, can master the foundational skills being taught.
Gradual Release Model
DI lessons follow a gradual release model, where the teacher models a skill, students practice together, most often through unison response, and finally, students practice and apply skills on their own. Carefully designed scaffolding ensures mastery, as students only practice new skills following prerequisites. The difficulty of the material increases gradually but steadily, keeping students in their zone of proximal development. As a result, students are expected to perform at a high level of mastery — at least 85–90%.
Innovative Application of Proven Pedagogy: The Walk to Read Model
Learning losses of the scale we’re facing today require research-proven pedagogy implemented with fidelity — but they also require innovative thinking from district leaders. Schools facing staggering gaps may consider adopting Direct Instruction programs and implementing the Walk to Read model, a whole-school approach that achieves efficient teaching by grouping learners based on need across classrooms and sometimes grade levels.
In the Walk to Read model, all students from all grades take a placement test. Blocks of time are set aside for targeted small-group instruction in homogenous grouping. The approach allows for more targeted and efficient instruction, minimizes planning, and provides clear assessment monitoring. The Walk to Read model can be overwhelming, but DI’s pedagogy makes it possible, and the improved outcomes make it worth it.
Walk to Read models have long been common in Title 1 schools but may play a vital role in schools across the country as we look to meet the scale of losses with large-scale interventions.
Dr. Mary Eisele serves as the VP of Product Management for Intervention at McGraw Hill. Driven by a desire for ALL students to succeed, her goal is to develop the highest quality educational solutions. For more than 30 years, Dr. Eisele has partnered with schools and districts to implement systemic change for student achievement.
