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Cover of Teaching Needy Kids in Our Backward System by Siegfried Engelmann

Teaching Needy Kids in Our Backward System

42 Years of Trying

by Siegfried Engelmann

4/5
ADI Press 379 pages January 1, 2007

Through vivid vignettes spanning from the 1960s through 2006, Engelmann chronicles his four-decade battle to bring effective instruction to at-risk children, particularly those in poverty. The book details his experiences with Project Follow Through and the systemic resistance he faced from the education establishment despite overwhelming evidence that Direct Instruction works.

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Jim's Review

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This is Engelmann's memoir, and it reads like a war diary. For over forty years, he fought to get schools to use teaching methods that actually work for disadvantaged kids — and for over forty years, the system fought back. The vignettes are what make this book special. You get the full story: the excitement of watching kids learn who everyone else had given up on, the frustration of bureaucrats who chose ideology over evidence, and the heartbreak of knowing that millions of kids suffered because adults couldn't get out of their own way. Project Follow Through is the centerpiece — 180 communities, 200,000 at-risk kids, and Direct Instruction came out on top in every measure. And the education establishment still ignored the results. If that doesn't make your worm blood boil, nothing will. Four worms — a deeply personal and important book.

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