Edu-Research Review 24/25

Hey 👋

And hello September. To kick off the academic year (set to be another interesting one), here’s a video rundown of my top 12 open-source papers from the last 12 months…

Big idea 🍉

Papers cited 🎓

1. Study using random test centre assignment in high-stakes exams → finds testing away from home school lowers scores and deepens inequality.

2. Longitudinal study of ‘teaching to the test’ → finds increased TTT before exams may (in contrast to common views) actually boost intrinsic motivation, importance, and utility.

3. Study exploring teacher judgments of student motivation → finds that teachers often over-rely on cues like gender and academic performance when memory-based judgments are required, suggesting a need for formative assessment methods to enhance sensitivity to more relevant motivational cues​.

4. Paper on how well teachers judge student wellbeing → finds we’re often inaccurate, but can do better when we’re close to students and see clear signs.

5. Review of school-based mental health initiatives → argues they offer limited benefits, face implementation challenges, and may unintentionally cause harm through poor targeting and over-diagnosis.

6. Report on school mental health interventions → finds long-term negative effects, including increased distress (despite some short-term benefits).

7. Study exploring ‘warm-strict’ teaching → finds that combining deep care and high expectations helps to guide learning and build strong relationships.

8. Study on teacher enthusiasm → finds that teachers who see themselves as enthusiastic use more positive lingo, but students don’t always pick up on this.

9. Study on student attention signs → finds that combos of student gaze, head movements, and facial expressions are predictive of cognitive engagement.

10. Study on effective schools in England → those which have a culture of peer observation (aka ‘drop-ins’) tend to generate better student progress (note: leadership observations don’t appear to have as significant an effect).

11. Working paper exploring the effect of ‘drop-ins’ (unannounced observations on teachers) → finds they improve teaching, behaviour, and student outcomes.

12. Analysis of successful schools in the US → finds that creating a sense of belonging and pursuing alignment between staff helps students learn more.

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