Zach Groshell – ER Education

Every Writer Supported: A Baltimore Curriculum Project Teacher on DI Language Programs

Jared Brewer is a classroom teacher with the Baltimore Curriculum Project who just moved from second grade up to fourth. At the NIFDI conference, he spent the week in sessions on upper-level reading and language programs. We talked about a side of DI people rarely picture: how it builds students from short, well-formed sentences up…

2 days ago 0Comments

“Precision Is the Word”: Stephanie Stollar on Direct Instruction

I was joined by Stephanie Stollar at the NIFDI National Conference on Direct Instruction in Eugene. It was her first time at the conference, although she's tried to come for years. We talked about her roots in DI, why the design of these programs is so precise, and how the Reading Science Academy gives isolated…

October 16, 2026 0Comments

Freeing Up Teachers for the Art of Teaching: Pam Kastner on Explicit Teaching

I caught up with Pam Kastner at the NIFDI National Conference on Direct Instruction in Eugene for a conversation about what she's taking away from the week and what she sees in the schools she supports. We talked about why high quality explicit teaching only works when leadership and systems are in place too, the…

October 6, 2026 0Comments

The Genius is in DI’s Design: A Conversation with Carl Hendrick

I caught up with Carl Hendrick at the NIFDI National Conference on Direct Instruction in Eugene for a quick conversation about why he keeps coming back to this work and what's been striking him all week. We covered a lot of ground in a short time, from Engelmann's foresight to whether DI has anything to…

September 21, 2026 0Comments

Don’t Blame the Scripts

I sat down with Naveen Risvi at the 52nd National Direct Instruction Conference in Eugene, Oregon (NIFDI, July 2026), just after she received the Siegfried Engelmann Excellence in Education Award — one of two major awards presented this year. We talked about her decade-long journey bringing Connecting Math Concepts and other Direct Instruction programs to…

September 14, 2026 0Comments

First Annual Explicit Teaching Institute

I am thrilled to share a recap of the first-ever Explicit Teaching Institute, which kicked off the last week of July at the Inwood Academy for Leadership in NYC! This intensive professional development event brought together an incredible group of educators who are truly passionate about bridging the gap between cognitive science and daily classroom…

September 1, 2026 0Comments

Explicit Instruction Is Having a Moment

My new piece for the American Enterprise Institute and researchED is out, and it's blown up. Read it here: https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/explicit-instruction-works-education-schools-just-wont-admit-it/ The essay is the argument I've been making for years, in one place. How I was trained to avoid explicit instruction. What convinced me I was wrong. And what the last half-century of classroom research…

August 5, 2026 0Comments

S5E34: Anita Archer on the principles of explicit instruction

I’m thrilled to be sharing this special episode with you, the Season 5 Finale of Progressively Incorrect. I’m joined by Dr. Anita Archer, one of the most influential voices in explicit instruction and effective teaching. For decades, Anita has helped educators translate learning science into practical classroom routines that improve student success, and her work…

July 12, 2026 0Comments