Direct Instruction, DISTAR, and Language for Learning. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

This report focuses on a family of interventions that includes all Direct Instruction products (DISTAR and Language for Learning). We use Direct Instruction to refer to this family of interventions, as well as to all versions past and present. Direct Instruction includes teaching techniques that are fast-paced, teacherdirected, and explicit with opportunities for student response and teacher reinforcement or correction. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) English Language Learners topic also reviewed the effects of a Direct Instruction program called Reading Mastery (SRA/McGraw-Hill) on the skills of children in elementary school; the findings are reported in the WWC English Language Learners intervention report Reading Mastery/SRA/McGraw-Hill.