Direct Instruction is controversial — but not among teachers who use it

“People are afraid of the unknown. Direct Instruction’s founder, Siegfried “Zig” Engelmann, and his colleagues started scripting lessons as they developed the programs in the 1960s.

The goal is to make the most of limited instructional time while giving students a consistent routine. Engelmann found that teachers weren’t always clear and concise when introducing new concepts, and efforts to address that problem through coaching had been unsuccessful.