Introducing The Practice Project

This week, AEI and researchED launched an essay series that will translate evidence from cognitive science and education research into practical guidance for teachers.

This week, AEI and researchED launched the first two papers in a new series I’ve been working on for the better part of a year: “The Practice Project.”

The premise will be familiar to regular readers of this Substack. I’ve argued for some time that if the initial impulse of the education reform movement was largely about changing systems, the next phase must focus on improving classroom practice. Of course, education policy, governance, and funding matters. But policy can only create the conditions for success. Ultimately, student learning depends on what teachers know and are able to do. That’s the animating idea behind “The Practice Project.”

Each paper in the series translates evidence from cognitive science, education research, and the accumulated wisdom of accomplished educators, thinkers, and writers into practical guidance for teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders. Rather than prescribing new policies, adjudicating arguments, or promoting educational fashions, the papers in this initiative focus on the craft of teaching itself.

Significantly, this series is a joint effort of AEI and researchED, a UK-based outfit that is well-known overseas but remains something of a cult item here in the US. It’s an international community of teachers, researchers, and school leaders committed to improving evidence-based classroom practice through research and the dissemination of professional knowledge. I’ve been a fan since attending my first researchED conference in Philadelphia in 2018. In the years since, I’ve presented at their conferences in England, Canada, and Chile. I’ve been to several others not as a speaker but simply as an attendee.

Indeed, many of the contributors to this series are people I’ve met through the researchED community. I’ve seen them teach, discussed their work at the pub afterward, and watched teachers pack their sessions because they had something genuinely useful to say. The goal of “The Practice Project” is to make that expertise available to educators who may never have the opportunity to attend a researchED conference in person.

The first two papers capture exactly the kind of professional knowledge I hope this series will provide.

• The inaugural essay, “Explicit Instruction Works. Education Schools Just Won’t Admit It,” by Zach Groshell, takes on one of the most persistent misconceptions in teacher education: that explicit instruction is somehow outdated or inferior to more “student-centered” approaches. Zach explains why decades of research point in the opposite direction and offers a clear, practical guide to what explicit instruction looks like when it’s done well.

• The second paper, by Daisy Christodoulou, is titled “The Problem with Transferable Skills.” It challenges another deeply embedded assumption—that schools should prioritize teaching “transferable skills” like critical thinking and problem solving. Daisy demonstrates why these abilities are far less transferable than we often imagine, arguing that critical thinking depends on knowledge rather than existing apart from it.

Notice that neither paper proposes a new law, a new accountability system, or a new governance structure. Instead, both ask a simpler—and ultimately more consequential—question: What should teachers know in order to help students learn? That’s the question at the heart of “The Practice Project.”

In the coming weeks, we’ll publish papers by Anna Stokke on mathematics instruction, Dylan Wiliam on assessment, Jon Bassett and Gary Shiffman on history instruction, Paul Powell on studying student work, Adam Boxer on teaching science, Doug Lemov on reading, and one by yours truly on knowledge-rich curriculum. Additional papers by Carl Hendrick, Kristen McQuillan, researchED founder Tom Bennett, and others will follow.

When I first conceived of this series, I kept thinking about something from my childhood. Readers of a certain age may remember the slim yellow “Answer Books“ Shell Oil used to give away at its gas stations. They weren’t advertisements so much as practical manuals: how to spot car trouble before it became serious, what to do if your car broke down, how to handle a driving emergency. They were concise, authoritative, and useful. People tucked them into their glove compartments because they knew that, sooner or later, they’d want to read and refer to them again.

I hope these papers become the education equivalent of those little manuals—not articles that are read once and forgotten, but resources teachers save, annotate, share with colleagues, and return to when they’re wrestling with a familiar problem of practice. Education has no shortage of opinions. What it often lacks is an accessible body of professional knowledge that practitioners can rely on to hone their craft.

One final note. This series would never have happened without Annika Hernandez, who shepherded every paper from concept to publication. She recruited authors, managed timelines, edited manuscripts, coordinated production, and solved problems readers will never see while keeping this remarkable group of busy writers—and me—moving in the same direction. Every successful publishing project has someone whose work is largely invisible but absolutely indispensable. For “The Practice Project,” that person is Annika. She has my deepest gratitude, admiration, and thanks.

I hope you’ll read these papers. More than that, I hope you’ll keep them.