The Evidence on Teaching

Explore the evidence

8 of 88 decisions · clear everything

Survives the gold standard Independent, durable, rigorous The debunked shelf Cheap wins For parents at home Famous numbers, deflated Where we admit ignorance The terrain

evidenceall drop D A–B A only

evaluatorany no dev-led independent

durabilityany follow-up ≥1yr ≥2yr

what are these? →

Your situation · from the applicability layer — absence means “not yet assessed,” never “doesn’t apply”

who's delivering

group / setting

cost

outcome class

Testing yourself beats rereading — robust in real classrooms; honest durable size ~0.1–0.3 SD, biggest after delay, thinnest on transfer.

strong supportconf: highgc: low

10/1018/48connected:Feedback and formative assessment Mastery learning (teach → test → r Spaced (distributed) practice

Retrieval practice (the testing effect) · practice · ages 8–18 · method

Spacing beats massing at equal total time — the most robust finding in learning science. Space repetitions at ~10–20% of how long you need to remember.

strong supportconf: highgc: low

7/712/48connected:Interleaving (mixing problem types Math-fact fluency and timed practi Retrieval practice (the testing ef

Spaced (distributed) practice · practice · ages 6–18 · method

Smaller classes buy real K-1 gains that fade on tests yet persist in attainment — at roughly triple tutoring's cost, and diluted to nothing when scaled fast.

mixedconf: highgc: low

7/748/48connected:Tutoring Does educational technology raise Teacher quality

Class-size reduction · class-size · ages 4–18 · structure

Selective CTE high schools raise male graduation 8-10pp and early-career earnings 17-35% on lottery and cutoff designs; test scores, degrees, and every outcome for girls are flat.

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: low

19/1948/48connected:Ability grouping and tracking

Do career and technical education tracks help students — and which students? · practical · ages 14–18

Yes — sight-reading, performance and aural skill move about half a standard deviation under instruction — but the evidence is quasi-experimental and thinner than the transfer literature built on top of it.

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: medium

6/636/48connected:Does learning music make children Feedback and formative assessment Feedback frequency and mental prac Deliberate practice and the 10,000+2

Does teaching music produce musical skill? · music · ages 4–18

Mixing problem types helps where confusion is the enemy — discriminating similar categories, mixed math practice — and is useless or worse for facts and prose.

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: low

7/718/48connected:Spaced (distributed) practice Science content sequencing

Interleaving (mixing problem types vs blocking) · practice · ages 10–18 · method

Life-skills courses reliably teach the content and rarely change the conduct; behaviour moves only where instruction sits close in time to the decision, and driver education is worse than nothing.

mixedconf: mediumgc: low

11/1148/48

Do life-skills courses — money, cooking, driving, health — change what students actually do? · practical · ages 6–18

Not at school: the largest randomised trials find nothing on reading, maths or cognition. A small effect on laboratory executive-function tasks is contested, may be real at ~0.2 SD, and is end-of-treatment only.

mixedconf: mediumgc: medium

19/1936/48connected:Brain Gym, Whole Brain Teaching, a Does teaching music produce musica Fadeout

Does learning music make children smarter or better at school? · music · ages 4–16

The URL is the state — any view you build here is a permalink you can hand to someone mid-argument.