A new guide from US-based Mathematica Policy Research's Center for Improving Research Evidence, explains to educators how to tell which type of research evidence supports claims about effectiveness, ordering them from the weakest (anecdotal) to the strongest (causal). The guide gives examples of common sources for each type of evidence, such as mar...

Where does she work?  Darling-Hammond is currently the Charles E Ducommun professor of education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute. She began her career as a public school teacher in Pennsylvania, and has since gone on to become president of the American Educational Research As...

Intuitively, it seems obvious that reducing the number of pupils in a class will improve the quality of teaching and learning, for example, by increasing the amount of high quality feedback or one-to-one attention learners receive. There is no doubt that parents like small class sizes. However, Professor John Hattie in his book, Visible Learning: a...

Where does he work? Heckman is an American economist currently working at the University of Chicago as the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, professor of law at the Law School, and director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development. He is also a senior research fellow at the American Bar Foundation, and a resear...

Where does he work? Stephen Machin is currently a professor of Economics at University College London. He also works at the London School of Economics, where he serves as the director of the Centre for Economic Performance. He gained a PhD from the University of Warwick for his thesis on the impact of trade unions on economic performance. Quick fac...