Implementing Direct Instruction in Australian schools

Good to Great Schools Australia supports Direct Instruction programs, as they have the strongest evidence base and are the most effective programs to use across all student cohorts, but particularly with vulnerable students. We have over a decade’s experience supporting schools to implement Direct Instruction programs and continue to do so across states and territories and jurisdictions.
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GGSA and McGraw Hill Partnership on Direct Instruction

Good to Great Schools Australia is committed to providing school teaching teams with quality professional learning in Direct Instruction. We regularly have special offers for our members to enhance classroom delivery of Direct Instruction.

Click here to see the latest offerings.

Direct Instruction programs are available through McGraw Hill Australia. There are over 20 Direct Instruction programs to choose from depending on students’ needs. The majority of programs are designed to cover Kindergarten to Year 5, with each year being the equivalent of a year level in Australia. 
Hundreds of Australian schools use Direct Instruction programs, and Reading Mastery Signature Edition is the flagship program. Other popular programs are Spelling Mastery and Connecting Maths Concepts. 
To order online, visit: www.mheducation.com.au. To contact your local McGraw Hill Education Consultant, please visit: https://www.mheducation.com.au/support-contact/contact-rep. 

We can support you to identify the right instructional approach and curriculum programs for your needs. 

We offer free consultations with our expert team, and can tailor a session to your needs. Please register your interest at info@goodtogreatschools.org.au

Good to Great Schools Australia mapping of Direct Instruction to the Australian curriculum

GGSA has worked with a range of teaching professionals and authors of the Direct Instruction programs to comprehensively map Direction Instruction to the Australian Curriculum for English and Maths. The programs were mapped at the program level, lesson level and even at the exercise level. The mapping shows how the Direct Instruction programs cover the majority of Australian Curriculum strands. 
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GGSA has developed a set of maths teaching resources that can be used with Direct Instruction programs to cover the few sections that are not covered by the Australian Curriculum. These are called Oz-e-maths Top Ups and Swap Outs, and can be found here: 
GGSA has developed a range of implementation tools and school improvement resources and systems that can be used to enhance all effective teaching including Direct Instruction programs. School improvement tools can be found here:
 
GGSA uses Direct Instruction as its instructional design approach, which makes its science program and other specialist programs highly complementary to the Direct Instruction English and Maths programs. GGSA Oz-e-science and other subject curriculum resources can be found here: 
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About Direct Instruction

Direct Instruction was first used by Siegfried Engelmann and his colleagues from the University of Oregon in 1968. Extensively field-tested, evidence-based and research-proven, Direct Instruction programs have been raising standards for all types of students for over 50 years. No other program can claim the substantial amount of independent research studies that prove the efficacy of Direct Instruction programs for all students.  
Direct Instruction programs combine an explicit instruction pedagogy with a comprehensive curriculum, sequenced and structured lessons and student assessment tools.  
Students are grouped in the program according to their zone of proximal development rather than their age or year level. This enables more advanced students to progress at an accelerated pace, while differentiating those who require further support and ensuring they are also making standard progress. 

How Direct Instruction supports students and lifts schools from Poor to Fair to Good to Great 

Many students can be taught effectively using a range of pedagogies and programs. Direct Instruction is suited to high, middle and low performing students on the bell curve.  
However, some students have needs that mean they are only likely to learn effectively if they are taught with specific pedagogical approaches. The evidence shows that Direct Instruction is the most effective program to use when working with low performing students. 
Schools with a majority of students from disadvantaged, marginalised, low socio-economic, migrant or Indigenous backgrounds will get to Fair and Good using Direct Instruction. 
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Most low-performing students are in regional or remote areas or in small mixed grade Poor to Fair schools. Such schools benefit from a school-wide implementation of Direct Instruction because it best suits the students and the teaching teams.

It responds to the specific complex needs of students learning to read, the capabilities and needs of students reading to learn, and those in later primary and early high school who did not master the foundational knowledge and skills when instructed using other programs.

Schools with high teacher turnover and a majority of inexperienced teachers and leaders (the case in most Poor to Fair schools) are well supported by the detailed, sequenced and scripted teaching materials and the data monitoring that enables continuous improvement of teaching practice. 
CYAAA aims to close the academic achievement gap so that students successfully transition into high-quality, high-expectation secondary boarding schools and graduate at the same levels as their mainstream peers. They ensure that every child’s academic, emotional, material, health and well-being needs are addressed.  

CYAAA has an extended school day and operates additional hours to ensure students have more time to close the education gap. Additional time is spent on rich creative activities in language, music and the arts.

"When I was growing up, we always talked in Guugu Yimidhirr at home. Our parents were very strict on speaking our language correctly. Not all our children today learn our traditional language at home, so we need to make sure we are teaching it at school as well. My passion is to keep our mother tongue alive, so as long as I stand, I will continue to teach language."
Lillian Bowen, Language Teacher, Hope Vale School 

GGSA provides the school team with school improvement implementation support and extensive professional development in effective teaching.
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Sign up now for Direct Instruction Support

The prospects for Australian children should not be determined by their ethnicity, location or socio-economic status. We seek to equal the playing field for disadvantaged children. We guarantee that any child who enters a classroom that is using effective teaching will learn to read and will progress at a pace that exceeds the national average. 

Your tax-deductible donation goes directly to purchasing readers and resources for students.
 
‘This beautiful young girl from our Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy received Direct Instruction as a Prep student. She is now putting together the magical pieces of the reading jigsaw. She is only four years old and on the way to reading by the time she starts her first year of primary school.’
– Noel Pearson, Co-Chair, Good to Great Schools Australia