The Evidence on Teaching

Explore the evidence

7 of 88 decisions · clear everything

Survives the gold standardIndependent, durable, rigorousThe debunked shelfCheap winsFor parents at homeFamous numbers, deflatedWhere we admit ignoranceThe terrain
evidencealldrop DA–BA only
evaluatoranyno dev-ledindependent
durabilityanyfollow-up≥1yr≥2yr
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Your situation · from the applicability layer — absence means “not yet assessed,” never “doesn’t apply”
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Teaching handwriting works and transfers: freeing the hand frees composition, with gains still present at six months — even taught in groups of three.

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: medium
8/818/48connected:Does teaching grammar improve chilDoes teaching movement transfer toDoes sentence combining improve wrDoes teaching spelling work, and w+1

Does handwriting and transcription instruction matter, and should young children type instead? · writing · ages 5–12

Sentence combining improves writing where grammar teaching fails — the same meta-analyses score them +0.50 and −0.32.

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: low
8/89/48connected:Does teaching grammar improve chilDoes teaching movement transfer toDoes handwriting and transcriptionDoes teaching spelling work, and w

Does sentence combining improve writing? · writing · ages 5–18

Strategy instruction is writing's best-supported method — at roughly a fifth of its advertised size once measures are independent (d≈0.8 → ~0.15).

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: low
8/89/48connected:Does teaching spelling work, and wDoes teaching grammar improve chilDoes handwriting and transcription

Does strategy instruction (SRSD, the writing process) improve writing? · writing · ages 5–18

Formal spelling instruction works (ES 0.54) and more formal beats less formal — explicit wins again, and it transfers beyond spelling itself.

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: low
7/79/48connected:Does teaching grammar improve chilDoes sentence combining improve wrSystematic/explicit phonics vs whoExplicit instruction vs discovery/+3

Does teaching spelling work, and what does it transfer to? · writing · ages 5–18

Capitalisation and punctuation move when directly taught and directly measured, and don't move when embedded in writing programmes. A teachable subject, not a writing lever.

mixedconf: mediumgc: medium
28/2821/48connected:Does teaching grammar improve chil

Can capitalisation, punctuation and usage be taught directly as their own subject? · writing · ages 5–18

Attainment falls steadily with age of first exposure, but the sharp critical period is contested and an earlier classroom start buys nothing durable: start young for immersion, not for two lessons a week.

mixedconf: mediumgc: medium
14/1424/48

Is there a critical period for learning a second language, and when should a child start? · foreign-language · ages 4–18

Teaching grammar does not improve writing at any age tested — and it displaces the things that do.

negativeconf: mediumgc: low
12/1227/48connected:Comprehensible input or explicit gDoes sentence combining improve wrDoes teaching spelling work, and wDoes handwriting and transcription+4

Does teaching grammar improve children's writing? · writing · ages 5–18

Not yet assessed for this question · 1

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