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From 1967-1977 the US government carried out the largest educational research project in history.

The results of which were - effectively - buried.

It’s a story of intrigue, ideology and education failure.

A thread

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The origin of the research project was a question as old as time:

What is the most effective teaching method?

Answering this would mean higher educational standard for students across America

To find out the answer, President Lyndon B Johnson set up ‘Project Follow Through’.

Follow Through reached 200,000 students in 178 communities with funding of $750 a student.

All told, almost $1 billion was spent.

22 different ‘sponsors’ took over schools across the country.

Each sponsor had a different approach.

For example, discovery based approaches, problem solving and self-esteem led.

Between them, the sponsors covered any educational idea that you could think of.

Over a number of years, data was collected on student performance.

It was collected in 3 areas:

- Basic Skills (spelling, punctuation, maths facts etc.)

- Cognitive skills (problem solving, critical thinking)

- Affective response (self-esteem, sense of responsibility)

So, a vast range of teaching methods were being studied.

And, data was measuring the performance of students across a number of different areas.

Not just ‘knowledge tests’. But, observation of students self-confidence and self-worth.

$30 million was spent evaluating the data.

And, the results were a surprise to many people.

One sponsor did far better than any other.

It was top in each category.

It had the best results for students that were: Native American, non-white rural, urban, white and black...

The winner, by some distance, was an approach known as Direct Instruction (DI).

The table below presents the data.

Now, DI is very different to many other approaches.

It’s lessons are scripted and require choral response from students.

It rejected the constructivist teaching methods of the time.

It focused only on academic learning, drilling students on basic facts and skills.

So, the largest educational research project ever carried out suggests the unknown DI is the winner.

But, why have we never heard of it?

Well, almost straight away, the results were buried.

DI didn’t fit with the popular ideas about learning.

Many academics believed students learned things ‘when they were ready’.

And, that learning facts and knowledge was unnecessary, outdated and cruel.

As a result, Follow Through’s results were reframed.

Overall, disadvantaged students had not seen any benefit from Project Follow Through as a whole.

Many students learnt very little in classrooms with poor sponsors.

And so, DI was not declared the winner.

Instead, Project Follow Through was declared a failure.

DI was not encouraged for nationwide adoption.

It was communicated that DI was the same as any other teaching method.

Generations of students have lost out as a result.

Siegfried Engelmann, the originator of DI, spent a career trying to publicise the results.

And still, DI remains a little know about teaching method.

—

The most effective teaching method ever invented.

Ignored.

To find out more about Project Follow Through...

Short summary: nifdi.org/what-is-di/pro…

Medium summary: darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adiep/ft/gros…

Long summary: zigsite.com/for_readers_no…

Uber-long research project: behavior.org/resources/901.…

To find out more about DI...

And introduction:

Why isn’t it more popular?

How and why it’s different ≠-di-and-why-that-matters/

Finally... a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of DI (2018).

Spoiler alert, modern studies still find it to be super effective.

arthurreadingworkshop.com/wp-content/upl…