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

Early gains fade by default — halving every 12–18 months, faster when bigger. What persists is trajectory (placement, graduation), not ability.

strong supportconf: highgc: low
10/1048/48connected:Does working-memory or brain trainDoes learning to code improve geneCan executive function be trained,Does teaching a growth mindset rai+2

Fadeout — why early gains disappear, and what actually persists · early-childhood · ages 4–18 · structure

Teacher quality is the largest within-school lever — 1 SD of teacher ≈ 0.10–0.15 SD/yr, worth more than ten fewer students — and credentials predict none of it. Select; don't workshop.

strong supportconf: highgc: low
11/1136/48connected:School spending, charters, and whaClass-size reduction

Teacher quality — selection over credentials and workshops · teachers · ages 4–18 · structure

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
8/833/48connected:Algebra timing

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

Diagnose what a child already knows: teachers cut 40–50% of curriculum for high-ability children and achievement ROSE. The payoff is skipping, not monitoring.

moderate supportconf: mediumgc: medium
16/1625/48connected:Does educational technology raise Feedback and formative assessmentMastery learning (teach → test → r

Placement and mastery diagnosis — deciding what to teach next from evidence of current skill · assessment · ages 5–18 · structure

No study of homeschooling has a counterfactual — the famous percentile claims are selection all the way down. The honest answer: nobody knows.

insufficientconf: lowgc: high
23/2336/48connected:Homeschool socialisationThe parent as instructorSystematic/explicit phonics vs whoMath-fact fluency and timed practi

Does homeschooling raise achievement and attainment, or does it select the children who would have done well anyway? · homeschool · ages 5–18 · structure

Homeschoolers get plenty of social contact but measurably fewer, closer peer ties; whether that helps or harms has never been causally tested.

insufficientconf: lowgc: high
23/2324/48connected:Does homeschooling raise achievemeThe parent as instructor

Homeschool socialisation — the most-asked question, and the least answerable one · homeschool · ages 6–18 · structure

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