Library

Research: Papers and reviews

Foundational papers, reviews and meta-analyses, grouped by topic. You'll find the classics on cognitive load and explicit instruction alongside reading research, coaching, leadership and implementation. Every entry links to the original.

How learning works 3

Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work (opens in a new tab)

Kirschner, Sweller and Clark · 2006 · Foundational research

Opens at caseresources.hsph.harvard.edu

Cognitive science approaches in the classroom: A review of the evidence (opens in a new tab)

Perry, Lea and colleagues (EEF) · 2021 · Evidence review

Opens at educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk

Intrinsic Motivation and Achievement in Mathematics in Elementary School (opens in a new tab)

Garon-Carrier and colleagues · 2016 · Longitudinal study

Opens at selfdeterminationtheory.org

Teaching practice 12

Putting Students on the Path to Learning: The Case for Fully Guided Instruction (opens in a new tab)

Clark, Kirschner and Sweller · 2012 · Foundational research

Opens at aft.org

Strengthening the Student Toolbox: Study Strategies to Boost Learning (opens in a new tab)

John Dunlosky · 2013 · Foundational research

Opens at aft.org

The Effectiveness of Direct Instruction Curricula: A Meta-Analysis of a Half Century of Research (opens in a new tab)

Stockard, Wood, Coughlin and Rasplica Khoury · 2018 · Foundational research

Opens at scholarsbank.uoregon.edu

Teaching the science of learning (opens in a new tab)

Weinstein, Madan and Sumeracki · 2018 · Foundational research

Opens at cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com

Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques (opens in a new tab)

Dunlosky and colleagues · 2013 · Review

Opens at psychologicalscience.org

Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention (opens in a new tab)

Roediger and Karpicke · 2006 · Experiment

Opens at psychology.ecu.edu

The Reach of Retrieval: Retrieval practice in authentic primary classrooms (opens in a new tab)

Fieke Ophuis-Cox · 2026 · Doctoral thesis (four classroom studies)

Opens at research.ou.nl

Project Follow Through (opens in a new tab)

US Office of Education evaluation · 1977 · Large-scale evaluation

Opens at nifdi.org

The impact of context on evidence-based practices (opens in a new tab)

AERO · 2024 · Rapid literature scan

Opens at edresearch.edu.au

Classroom management literature review (opens in a new tab)

Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (NSW) · 2020 · Literature review

Opens at education.nsw.gov.au

Supporting Teachers' Use of Opportunities to Respond (opens in a new tab)

MacSuga-Gage and Simonsen · 2015 · Systematic review

Opens at cbmt.franciscan.edu

Building a responsive teaching culture by designing and using hinge questions (opens in a new tab)

Chartered College of Teaching (Impact) · Practitioner article

Opens at my.chartered.college

Literacy 22

Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert (opens in a new tab)

Castles, Rastle and Nation · 2018 · Foundational research

Opens at doi.org

Children's reading difficulties, language, and reflections on the simple view of reading (opens in a new tab)

Kate Nation · 2019 · Open access · Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties

Kate Nation's open-access review of the Simple View of Reading. It sets out what the model explains well about reading and reading difficulties, and where language and reading are more entangled than the model suggests.

Opens at doi.org

The Baseball Experiment: How two researchers found the comprehension gap is a knowledge gap (opens in a new tab)

Core Knowledge Foundation, on Recht and Leslie (1988) · 2017 · Account of a 1988 study

FoundationalOpens at coreknowledge.org

Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading (opens in a new tab)

Graham and Hebert · 2010 · Meta-analysis report

Opens at thewritingrevolution.org

Comprehensive meta-analysis of writing interventions for students in Grades K-5 (opens in a new tab)

Graham and colleagues (IES project) · Meta-analysis

Opens at ies.ed.gov

Curriculum research review series: English (opens in a new tab)

Ofsted · 2022 · Research review

Opens at gov.uk

Telling the story: The English education subject report (opens in a new tab)

Ofsted · 2024 · Inspection evidence report

Opens at gov.uk

CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study. Identifying language impairments in children (opens in a new tab)

Bishop, Snowling, Thompson, Greenhalgh and the CATALISE consortium · 2016 · Consensus study

The open-access consensus study in which an international expert panel worked towards agreed criteria for identifying children's language difficulties. It underpins the shift to the term developmental language disorder.

FreeOpens at journals.plos.org

Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4 to 9 (opens in a new tab)

What Works Clearinghouse · Practice guide · USA

A What Works Clearinghouse practice guide on reading interventions for students in the upper primary and lower secondary years. One for leaders planning support for older struggling readers.

FreeOpens at ies.ed.gov

Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers (opens in a new tab)

What Works Clearinghouse · Practice guide · USA

A What Works Clearinghouse practice guide with four recommendations for improving primary students' writing, each with steps for putting it in place and answers to common obstacles.

FreeOpens at ies.ed.gov

SOLAR: The Science of Language and Reading (opens in a new tab)

Pamela Snow · 2020 · Open access · Child Language Teaching and Therapy

Pamela Snow's paper proposing the Science of Language and Reading framework, which places oral language at the centre of learning to read. It sets out her Language House in full.

Opens at doi.org

Teaching Reading: Why the 'Fab Five' should be the 'Big Six' (opens in a new tab)

Deslea Konza · 2014 · Open access · Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Deslea Konza's case for adding oral language and early literacy experiences to the National Reading Panel's five elements, which gives the Big Six.

Opens at ro.ecu.edu.au

Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read (opens in a new tab)

National Reading Panel (NICHD) · 2000 · Foundational research · USA

The summary report of the United States National Reading Panel, the review behind the five components of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Opens at nichd.nih.gov

Teaching Reading: Report and recommendations (National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy) (opens in a new tab)

Ken Rowe and the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy · 2005 · Foundational research · Australia

The report of Australia's 2005 national inquiry, which reviewed the research on teaching literacy and how well new teachers were being prepared to teach reading.

Opens at research.acer.edu.au

Independent review of the teaching of early reading: Final report (the Rose Review) (opens in a new tab)

Jim Rose, for the Department for Education and Skills · 2006 · Foundational research · UK

Jim Rose's 2006 review of the teaching of early reading for the Department for Education and Skills in England. Free to download from the Digital Education Resource Archive.

Opens at dera.ioe.ac.uk

How the Science of Reading Informs 21st-Century Education (opens in a new tab)

Petscher, Cabell, Catts, Compton, Foorman and colleagues · 2020 · Open access · Reading Research Quarterly

Twelve researchers from the Florida Center for Reading Research sort the claims made for the science of reading into those with compelling evidence, promising evidence and little evidence. Free on PubMed Central.

Opens at pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A critical review (opens in a new tab)

Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry and Lorraine Hammond · 2021 · Open access · Reading Psychology

An open-access critical review of the research on the part background knowledge plays in reading comprehension, published in Reading Psychology in 2021.

Opens at doi.org

Language is literacy is language: Positioning speech-language pathology in education policy, practice, paradigms and polemics (opens in a new tab)

Pamela Snow · 2016 · Open access · International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology

Pamela Snow's Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture, published as an open-access paper, on where speech-language pathology sits in education policy, practice and debate.

Opens at doi.org

Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (opens in a new tab)

What Works Clearinghouse · Practice guide · USA

A practice guide with four recommendations for teaching early reading. The second is to develop awareness of the sounds in speech and how they link to letters, with steps for putting it into practice.

FreeOpens at ies.ed.gov

Research Brief 1: The benefits and links between handwriting instruction and literacy and learning (opens in a new tab)

James Lyra, First OT · Research brief · 7 pages · Australia

How automatic letter formation frees up working memory for composing, and what the research says about the links between handwriting, spelling and reading.

FreeOpens at firstot.com.au

Research Brief 2: Evidence-based handwriting practices for teachers and occupational therapists (opens in a new tab)

James Lyra, First OT · Research brief · 4 pages · Australia

Practical recommendations from the research, including regular explicit practice, linking letter formation to sounds in phonics lessons, and why isolated fine-motor exercises on their own do not improve handwriting.

FreeOpens at firstot.com.au

Research Brief 3: Where the research is limited, evidence gaps and clinical reasoning (opens in a new tab)

James Lyra, First OT · Research brief · 9 pages · Australia

An honest look at what the research does not yet tell us, such as which lined paper, font or formation scripts to use, and how to reason through those decisions.

FreeOpens at firstot.com.au

Maths 2

Research review series: Mathematics (opens in a new tab)

Ofsted · 2021 · Research review

Opens at gov.uk

Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades (opens in a new tab)

What Works Clearinghouse (Fuchs and colleagues) · 2021 · Practice guide · USA

A What Works Clearinghouse practice guide with six recommendations for maths intervention in the primary years, from systematic instruction and mathematical language to number lines, word problems and timed fluency activities.

FreeOpens at ies.ed.gov

Knowledge-rich curriculum 1

Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools (opens in a new tab)

Grattan Institute · 2022 · Report

Opens at grattan.edu.au

MTSS and assessment 6

Student grouping study (opens in a new tab)

Education Endowment Foundation · Randomised trial

Opens at educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk

Supporting students significantly behind in literacy and numeracy (opens in a new tab)

AERO (Kate de Bruin and colleagues) · 2023 · Research report

An AERO review of reviews on helping Years 7 to 9 students who are well behind in literacy and numeracy. It finds good grounds for multi-tiered support and looks at screening, progress monitoring and interventions.

FreeOpens at edresearch.edu.au

Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades (opens in a new tab)

What Works Clearinghouse · Practice guide · USA

A What Works Clearinghouse practice guide with five recommendations for finding struggling readers early and giving them tiered, evidence-based support in the primary years.

FreeOpens at ies.ed.gov

Defining and understanding dyslexia: Past, present and future (opens in a new tab)

Snowling, Hulme and Nation · 2020 · Review article

An open-access review that describes dyslexia as a difficulty in learning to decode and spell, places it among the neurodevelopmental disorders, and traces how understanding of it has changed.

FreeOpens at pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Australian Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (opens in a new tab)

Australasian ADHD Professionals Association · Clinical guideline · 2022 · Australia

The national guideline for identifying, diagnosing and supporting people with ADHD, approved by the NHMRC. Written for clinicians, and worth knowing as the reference point behind advice schools receive.

FreeOpens at adhdguideline.aadpa.com.au

Making best use of teaching assistants: Guidance report (opens in a new tab)

Evidence for Learning · Guidance report · 2019 · Australia

Seven recommendations to help principals and leadership teams in primary and secondary schools make the best use of teaching assistants. The full report and a one-page poster are free to download.

FreeOpens at evidenceforlearning.org.au