In 1967, the US carried out the largest educational research project in history

The use of choral response is fascinating. It's how Abraham Lincoln was taught in his blab school. The fact that it requires active involvement is also oddly reminiscent of some of the Japanese quality control stuff, like the pointing used in the railways.

It all makes sense.

We don't manage to solve the more-limited problem of reliably teaching kids to read, so I really don't have a lot of hope for Direct Instruction. Known-good reading technique, which is phonics, is pushed aside for known-bad techniques that fit people's trendy ideas of how reading might be done. We've also started to really screw up math, pushing weak students to ape the mental shortcuts of the more-advanced students before getting a solid foundation that produces reliable results.