Yes, which DI comprehension programmes are you impressed by Palisadesk? My feeling is from the children that I work with one to one is that the comprehension subskills you refer to are "left to chance" in the classroom. I meant to reply to this earlier. I was referring specifically to the Correctiv...

I think we have to accept that schools can't provide disadvantaged children with all the background knowledge that children from more privileged backgrounds pick up along the way. Most schools could probably do more than they are doing, however. Very true, even with a content-rich curriculum. There...

I meant to get to this thread earlier, but better late than never. I'm not sure who Jim had in mind when he referred to people who promote SP as a "magic bullet" -- certainly not RRF'ers, who have a much broader and comprehensive view of what is needed to ensure reading success. However, the RRF is...

OK, now I'm confused. Trying to establish the difference between Direct Instruction and direct instruction You're not alone! "Direct instruction" (no caps except when needed for proper sentence initiation) is a teaching approach or method. The one to Google for more information -- since he has publ...

I thought JAC would post these links from the DI list, but perhaps she's busy so here they are: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/remote-school-shifts-gears-for-brighter-future-20120810-23zya.html http://www.smh.com.au/national/leading-a-local-learning-revolution-20120812-242vj.html T...

This does not appear to be a "debunking" list so much as a list of current practices/issues with a few research citations for each, which presumably are to encourage people to extend their knowledge. Some of the items included have good empirical evidence of effectiveness: PECS, explicit instructio...

In the constructivist vs. instructivist debate, an effective via media appears to have been found by Morningside Academy in Seattle. I know I've posted about Morningside before but not in reference to this issue. Morningside is a laboratory school which consistently gets outstanding results. Here i...

Clearly, it would be stupid to expect medical students to learn their craft by trial-and-error, and constructivist approaches would be likely to lead to communication problems that would have serious implications for patients, but I can't see why Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-...

Getting back to the initial post on this topic -- background knowledge is essential to "reading comprehension" in many instances (not all), and Hirsch and others are to be commended in consistently emphasizing this point, as rich curriculum has been overlooked as a significant factor in student ach...

Point of clarification: none of the Project Follow Through models had any resemblance or relation to the Montessori model. Besides the Direct Instruction model, the University of Kansas Behaviour Analysis model was shown to be effective, while the others -- all variations on free exploratory, disco...

What if the left brain/right brain hypothesis is a lot of bunkum and has no scientific evidence to support it? In this case, that's irrelevant, since it is mostly a metaphor in Katharine Beals' writing. Followers of "Kitchen Table Math" will know her as a regular contributor there, with a special i...

As parents, we are expected to protect our children and provide them with the best possible education but when we take action against a school which has failed in its duty towards our child, we are attacked for being unreasonable for blaming the school for our children's lack of ability. It sounds ...

it would be a pity if someone in his position misused 'mitigate' in this way, presumably confusing it with with 'militate'. In context, "mitigate" makes perfect sense, but is not grammatically exact, since it takes a direct object and isn't properly followed by "against." Since the audience address...

There has been a long list of similar cases, initiated in different states, but all with the same outcome: courts have ruled that there is no "right" to a specific educational outcome, such as a particular level of literacy or numeracy. The concept of "educational malpractice" has been rejected bot...

If your schools inspector doesn't already know about it, you should refer him to this program as a model worth imitating: Pathways to Education: Main site http://www.pathwaystoeducation.ca Local community implementation: http://www.regentparkchc.org/youth-programs/pathways-to-education "Pathways" i...