Amy W Pento retweeted
Look at Direct Instruction from any angle, and the evidence is hard to ignore.
✅ Decades of research supporting its effectiveness
✅ Results that last
✅ Strong support for teachers
✅ Works for kids across socioeconomic backgrounds
So why in the hell are we still debating it?
“But it’s scripted!” So are great performances. Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts all work from scripts. Nobody calls them robots. They bring those scripts to life. Great teachers do the same.
What blows my mind is how often adult preferences take priority over evidence of what works for kids.
Our children cannot afford to wait while adults protect their teaching philosophies.
🎧 Listen to Episode 6 of Sold a Story. It’s time to put kids before ideology.
#SoldAStory #DirectInstruction #LiteracyForAll @ehanford @apmreports
✅ Decades of research supporting its effectiveness
✅ Results that last
✅ Strong support for teachers
✅ Works for kids across socioeconomic backgrounds
So why in the hell are we still debating it?
“But it’s scripted!” So are great performances. Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts all work from scripts. Nobody calls them robots. They bring those scripts to life. Great teachers do the same.
What blows my mind is how often adult preferences take priority over evidence of what works for kids.
Our children cannot afford to wait while adults protect their teaching philosophies.
🎧 Listen to Episode 6 of Sold a Story. It’s time to put kids before ideology.
#SoldAStory #DirectInstruction #LiteracyForAll @ehanford @apmreports
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Amy W Pento retweeted
"After a few years of Direct Instruction, the achievement gaps narrowed substantially.
Even so, the program faced criticism from prominent education groups."
“When you know you have the cure for something, and you see somebody dying from that disease, it’s gut-wrenching,” she said. “You could literally eradicate illiteracy and innumeracy.”
Even so, the program faced criticism from prominent education groups."
“When you know you have the cure for something, and you see somebody dying from that disease, it’s gut-wrenching,” she said. “You could literally eradicate illiteracy and innumeracy.”
We contacted more than a hundred schools and districts that have used Direct Instruction at some point since the 1960s. People told us why they started and why they stopped.
apmreports.org/story/2026/11/…
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Why is scientific evidence so often resisted in education? Pam Snow and I go over some of the common excuses in this week's episode. Pam has heard it all! If education is to be taken seriously as a profession, it has to get serious about evidence!
🎙️ Coming November 13!
🎙️ Coming November 13!
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Amy W Pento retweeted
NY’s own pilot program on Regents alternatives shows this is about lowering expectations
Here’s a school leader who wants alternatives like projects “because taking a test like that is hard for them”
Here’s a school leader who wants alternatives like projects “because taking a test like that is hard for them”
Accountability should measure whether students have mastered essential academic knowledge AND can apply it in meaningful ways. That means assessing critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and readiness for college, careers, and civic life—1/2
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Amy W Pento retweeted
What makes parents ignore test results?
I’m seeing more stories of families shocked that their straight-A kids are actually struggling
A common theme is parents trusting report cards & ignoring test results
For @CityJournal, I show how often this happens & why ⬇️
I’m seeing more stories of families shocked that their straight-A kids are actually struggling
A common theme is parents trusting report cards & ignoring test results
For @CityJournal, I show how often this happens & why ⬇️
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Brian Poncy @brian_poncy quoting Pamela Snow @PCSnow1604 in Brisbane today!
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Amy W Pento retweeted
🎯 What motivates students to learn? Trying to get them interested may seem like the answer.
But Héctor Ruiz Martín @hruizmartin explains how helping students be successful builds motivation without lowering expectations.
🔗 Episode link below.
But Héctor Ruiz Martín @hruizmartin explains how helping students be successful builds motivation without lowering expectations.
🔗 Episode link below.
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Amy W Pento retweeted
For the past three years, I have rarely assigned students to take notes in class. Instead, I just provide them the notes and have them generate knowledge through questioning.
Adam does a great job explaining why…
Adam does a great job explaining why…
I'm not normally one for banning stuff, but if I were made King Of The Schools, I'd ban copying from the board.
It's everywhere, and I see it in most lessons I visit. And it's a complete waste of time.
Read the blog for why, and please do share to the unconverted!
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Amy W Pento retweeted
I'm not normally one for banning stuff, but if I were made King Of The Schools, I'd ban copying from the board.
It's everywhere, and I see it in most lessons I visit. And it's a complete waste of time.
Read the blog for why, and please do share to the unconverted!
It's everywhere, and I see it in most lessons I visit. And it's a complete waste of time.
Read the blog for why, and please do share to the unconverted!
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Emily Hanford’s new reporting on Sold a Story highlights a wild knowledge paradox.
The US created Direct Instruction and mapped the cognitive science of reading decades ago. Other countries operationalized it at scale. Yet American schools still fight against adopting their own breakthrough.
Institutional dogma is a hell of a drug.
time.com/article/2026/1…
The US created Direct Instruction and mapped the cognitive science of reading decades ago. Other countries operationalized it at scale. Yet American schools still fight against adopting their own breakthrough.
Institutional dogma is a hell of a drug.
time.com/article/2026/1…
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Your child's teacher passed a reading licensure test. That might not mean they know how to teach reading. 🚩
@NCTQ reviewed the reading licensure tests that new elementary teachers must pass before they can teach. 33 states use a test that's at least acceptable. 18 (counting DC) e test may not show whether a teacher understands how children learn to read.
That's alarming. States are relying on these tests to decide whether teachers are ready for the classroom.
Colleges of education: keep up with the science! States use effective licensure tests!!!
Our kids can't wait. 📚
🎧 to the podcast: youtu.be/wQMrFu-zn9o?is…
See the study: nctq.org/research-insig…
#ScienceOfReading #LiteracyNow #TeacherPrep #ReadingJustice @KJWinEducation @FulcrumLiteracy
@NCTQ reviewed the reading licensure tests that new elementary teachers must pass before they can teach. 33 states use a test that's at least acceptable. 18 (counting DC) e test may not show whether a teacher understands how children learn to read.
That's alarming. States are relying on these tests to decide whether teachers are ready for the classroom.
Colleges of education: keep up with the science! States use effective licensure tests!!!
Our kids can't wait. 📚
🎧 to the podcast: youtu.be/wQMrFu-zn9o?is…
See the study: nctq.org/research-insig…
#ScienceOfReading #LiteracyNow #TeacherPrep #ReadingJustice @KJWinEducation @FulcrumLiteracy
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Project Follow-Through could have been a turning point in education if the energy that was invested in burying it had instead been turned into curiosity and genuine discussion of what best promotes learning at scale, regardless of circumstances.
Children need to be treated like in classrooms. This is the focus of my recent Snow Report blogpost:
share.google/IW8P0Xa7UpHwjt…
Children need to be treated like in classrooms. This is the focus of my recent Snow Report blogpost:
share.google/IW8P0Xa7UpHwjt…
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Anita Archer made a point on Progressively Incorrect I keep coming back to. Teachers shouldn't have to build curriculum from scratch. Get the best program you can, annotate it, and put your energy into the teaching. The podcast returns soon. Catch up here.
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Amy W Pento retweeted
"Remarkably, pupils from socially disadvantaged schools who received strict phonics instruction outperformed their peers from more advantaged schools who used a mixed-method approach. For example, pupils enrolled in disadvantaged schools (SES = 3/10) who receive strict phonics instruction obtain higher scores on the mid–first-grade fluency test than pupils enrolled in socially advantaged schools (SES = 7/10) who learned to read using a mixed method. The former read on average 28 words per minute, whereas the latter read 26 words per minute.3"
Strict phonics instruction outperforms mixed phonics: Evidence from a ... sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Many special ed interventions are very popular despite the absence of research support.
This list from @Steplab_co offers a substanial research overview:
bit.ly/4disUHd
This list from @Steplab_co offers a substanial research overview:
bit.ly/4disUHd
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Amy W Pento retweeted
Sean Morrisey (@smorrisey) has a simple rule for vocabulary. Don't ask the class what a word means and fish for answers. Kids hear wrong definitions. Tell them the meaning, give examples, and get them practicing. One of my favorite Progressively Incorrect episodes, back soon.
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Amy W Pento retweeted
This is a thing new teachers always seem to do (I’m sure I did too I’m just so ancient I can no longer recall) and not just with vocabulary. Good advice to share if you are working with novices!
Sean Morrisey (@smorrisey) has a simple rule for vocabulary. Don't ask the class what a word means and fish for answers. Kids hear wrong definitions. Tell them the meaning, give examples, and get them practicing. One of my favorite Progressively Incorrect episodes, back soon.
👇
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Amy W Pento retweeted
🎹 We know you can’t learn to play piano just by watching. You can't learn math or other subjects just by watching either. I talk with Héctor Ruiz Martín @hruizmartin about retrieval practice and why students need to practise recalling what they’ve learned.
🔗 Episode link below.
🔗 Episode link below.
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