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
what are these? →
sortconfidencerobustfragileA–Z
domain
verdict
confidence
layer
survival prior
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 assessmentMastery learning (teach → test → rSpaced (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 typesMath-fact fluency and timed practiRetrieval practice (the testing ef

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

Physical capacity is about as heritable as cognitive ability (~60%, no shared environment). Whether trainability is a stable trait remains unproven — the skeptics are winning.

strong supportconf: highgc: low
14/1436/48connected:How should a school run its classrDoes working-memory or brain trainCan executive function be trained,Does teaching a growth mindset rai+4

Talent and trainability — what is heritable, and what that does not license · talent · ages 4–18 · input

High-dosage tutoring is education's most reliable lever: ~0.29 SD in trials, ~0.2 well-scaled — not Bloom's 2σ. Groups of 3–4 work; 1:1 is unnecessary.

strong supportconf: highgc: low
18/1830/48connected:Class-size reductionDoes educational technology raise The parent as instructorSchool spending, charters, and wha

Tutoring — the honest effect, the Bloom 2-sigma myth, and what survives scale · tutoring · ages 5–18 · method

Brain training improves the trained task and nothing else: far transfer to intelligence or achievement is 0.001 against active controls.

no effectconf: highgc: low
18/1827/48connected:FadeoutTalent and trainabilityDoes learning to code improve geneCan executive function be trained,+1

Does working-memory or brain training transfer to intelligence and achievement? · transfer · ages 4–18 · debunked

Later bells buy adolescents 40+ measured minutes of sleep — the best-identified positive effect in the archive; the achievement payoff is real but far smaller.

strong supportconf: mediumgc: low
18/1836/48

Do later school start times increase adolescent sleep, and does that raise achievement? · health · ages 11–18 · input

School exercise programs don't raise achievement: four of the five largest RCTs are null, and more dose doesn't rescue it. Exercise for health, not for grades.

no effectconf: mediumgc: low
24/2429/48connected:Does teaching movement transfer to

Physical activity as an input — dose, fitness, and school outcomes · health · ages 4–18 · input

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