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

Group within classes or across grades by subject: modest, nearly free wins. Whole-school streaming does nothing, and early between-school tracking harms the bottom.

moderate supportconf: highgc: low

12/1236/48connected:Do career and technical education

Ability grouping and tracking — four practices, four verdicts · grouping · ages 5–18 · structure

Accelerate ready kids: they keep pace with older classmates, bank a year, and show no social-emotional harm at 50. The gifted label itself does nothing; the content does.

moderate supportconf: highgc: medium

8/830/48connected:Algebra timing

Acceleration and gifted programs — the label vs the content · grouping · ages 5–18 · structure

Grit is conscientiousness renamed and adds 0.4% to grade prediction; self-control genuinely predicts life outcomes but is 60% heritable with zero shared environment, and training moves ratings, not lives.

mixedconf: highgc: medium

20/2036/48connected:Should a school buy a social and e Does teaching a growth mindset rai How should a school run its classr

Are self-control and grit teachable levers on achievement? · character · ages 4–18

Growth-mindset interventions change beliefs almost everywhere and change achievement almost nowhere: the two independent national-scale trials measured standardized tests and found exactly zero.

mixedconf: highgc: low

18/1829/48connected:Fadeout Systematic/explicit phonics vs who Talent and trainability Are self-control and grit teachabl

Does teaching a growth mindset raise achievement? · character · ages 4–18

SEL programmes move the ratings they are evaluated on far more than the attainment they are sold on: the famous +0.27 is now 0.10, and no large independent trial has reproduced it on an externally marked test.

mixedconf: highgc: low

19/1948/48connected:Are self-control and grit teachabl How should a school run its classr

Should a school buy a social and emotional learning programme? · character · ages 4–18

Executive function trains like a task, not like a capacity: gains are real, narrow, and gone at follow-up, EF curricula are null under independent trial, and the latent construct is ~100% heritable.

no effectconf: highgc: low

21/2148/48connected:Does working-memory or brain train How should a school run its classr Fadeout Talent and trainability

Can executive function be trained, and does it transfer to learning? · character · ages 4–18

Teaching movement teaches movement: the skills improve, but transfer to cognition, achievement, or lifelong activity is near zero in the best trials.

no effectconf: highgc: medium

7/710/48connected:Does arts education raise academic Physical activity as an input Does teaching grammar improve chil Does handwriting and transcription+5

Does teaching movement transfer to cognition, achievement, or lifelong activity? · physical-development · ages 4–18

Near-zero in primary and almost entirely correlational in secondary. The causal base is three small trials; what the homework IS beats how much of it there is.

mixedconf: mediumgc: medium

16/1629/48

Homework — effects by age and by dosage · homework · ages 5–18 · structure

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