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My Best Posts On New Education Research Studies In 2026 – Part Two
Another day, another end-of-year “Best” list. Now, it’s time for research studies. You can see all previous editions of this list, as well as all my ed research related “best” lists, here. Here are my choices for the past six months: Excellent Materials For PD On Increasing Student Engagement Increased Lighting Is To Improved Public Safety As [Blank] Is To Improved Student Learning New SEL Meta-Analysis Finds That SEL Improves “Prosocial Behavior” AND That Less Is More This Is The Most Interesting Piece About Education Research That I’ve Read In A Long Time Study Found That Requiring Later Start Times For High School & Middle School Seems To Have Worked The Best Research On How Having Books In The Home Helps Students Study Finds That Enrollment In Ethnic Studies Classes Has Academic Benefits Across The Board Great Summary Of Research On Writing Instruction Would Be A Good Focus For Professional Development Apparently, Data Driven Learning Related To Language Learning Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does Review Of Research Suggests Reciprocal Teaching Could Be Best Strategy For Older Readers Yet Another Study Finds That Human Connection & Relationships Are Key In Schooling Two New, Important, & Useful Documents On Student Motivation Holding A Kid Back A Grade? Not So Fast, New Study Suggests The Best Research Out There On Using AI With English Language Learners
Here are a few others I think are useful, though I didn’t write separate posts about them: Research in brief: Harnessing the translanguaging corriente is from ELT Planning. I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT TRANSLANGUAGING. What Science Tells Us About Arguing With Your Father-in-Law is from The NY Times. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On Building Influence & Creating Change. Supporting Students in Transition to and from High School is a report from VCU. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The Importance Of Ninth-Grade For Students – & How To Support Them. Teacher Talk and Language Development: What a Large Meta-Analysis Shows About Quality versus Quantity is from Experience To Meaning. I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES SHARING RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT “TEACHER TALK” INTEGRATING PODCASTS TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN ELT CLASSROOM is actually a study of the use of dictogloss. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Use The Dictogloss Strategy With English Language Learners. Does something crack in secondary school? A large meta-analysis on student engagement is from Experience To Meaning. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On Student Engagement. Student engagement declines across adolescence: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies – I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On Student Engagement. It’s never too late to learn a language – adults and kids bring different strengths to the task is from The Conversation. I’m adding it to The Best Research About The Best Ages For ELLs To Learn English. AI broke our exams. Are oral exams the fix? Hold your horses… is from From Experience To Meaning. I’m adding it to The “Best” Strategies For Creating AI-Resistant Assignments. When school size matters and when it doesn’t is from The Hechinger Report and discusses research around small high schools. I’m a big believer in the idea of dividing existing high schools in small learning communities, the way my old school operated during most of my time there. Learn more at The Best Resources For Learning About Small Learning Communities. I’m adding Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions to Best Posts On “Motivating” Students.      A Look Back: I Have Tried To Help Students Facing Challenges With This Goal Sheet & Have Had A Little SuccessFor the next several months, each week I’ll be republishing posts from the past that I think readers might still find useful. This post first appeared in 2018.  Tumisu / Pixabay
Many of us have students who are facing challenges who find difficult to reach, and I am no exception. I have a long list of strategies that I can pull from, all which have worked at one time or another, as well as failing many more times than they have worked. But, often times it’s just a matter of throwing a lot of things against the wall to see if anything sticks. This past month, I have had a little success with having a couple of students complete a sheet I developed that is sort of a combination of previous goal sheets I’ve used (see Best Posts On Students Setting Goals) and a longer-term “visioning” activity I have often used and that I borrowed from Dan Pink (see The Best Resources For Doing A “One-Sentence Project”). Basically, I have had students complete a form (you can download it here, and I’ll also copy-and-paste it here in this post) – one part everyday. Since one of the challenges these students might have is difficulty focusing, keeping it short and simple has worked well. After they have completed the form, which take a few days, I apply an idea I learned from Edutopia (see I LIKE THE IDEA IN THIS NEW EDUTOPIA VIDEO: “60-SECOND STRATEGY: DAILY INTENTIONS”) where I ask them at the beginning of each class which of the actions they listed on the form as ones they want to focus on that day. We then have a short individual discussion at the end of class. It seems to have been helping, based on their commentaries and my observations. Here’s what the two-page form looks like: NAME __________________________________________________________ NEXT YEAR My school goal for next year is ___________________________________. My outside-of-school goal for next year is ____________________________. Next year, I want my friends to describe me by saying I am _______________
Next year, I want my teachers to describe me by saying I am _____________
Next year, I want my parents/guardians to describe me by saying I am __________________ _____________________________________________________________.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW In ten years, I want to ________________________________________. In ten years, I want my friends to describe me by saying I am ________________________________________________________. In ten years, I want my parents/guardians to describe me by saying I am _______________________________________________________.
TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW In twenty years, I want to _______________________________________. In twenty years, I want my partner/wife/husband to describe me by saying I am
In twenty years, I want my children (if I have them) to describe me by saying I am _____________________________________________________________________
NAME ____________________________________
Things I can do NOW to help achieve these goals:
1.
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When I don’t feel like doing these things, actions I can take to help me get back on track:
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When I don’t feel like doing these things, actions my teachers can take to help me get back on track:
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I’m not suggesting it’s some brilliant new intervention, but it’s just the latest strategy that may work with these particular students. And then flop next year.  Sentences Of The Week geralt / Pixabay
I thought readers might, or might not, find this new regular post useful. Each week, I highlight several sentences, with links to their sources, that I find interesting/concerning/useful. And they may, or may not, be directly connected to education. I may also include my own comments or related links. This regular post will join my other regular ones on teaching ELLs, education policy, Artificial Intelligence, infographics, and Pinterest highlights, not to mention sharing of my regular Education Week posts. Here are this week’s sentences: What ed-tech has forgotten to prepare students for: their present lives. Their humanity. “Writing groups have been a huge indicator of authenticity for me,” she says. “A student will happily turn in AI writing to me, but they will never put AI writing in front of their peers. I used to think that public schools were vehicles for reforming society. And now I think that while good teachers and schools can promote positive intellectual, behavioral, and social change in individual children and youth, schools are (and have been) ineffectual in altering social inequalities. See The Best Resources On Why Improving Education Is Not THE Answer To Poverty & Inequality A common joke in my profession is that no one likes writing itself. We like being about to write and having written. While grading her 12th graders’ papers, the head of Lincoln High’s English department noticed that they all sounded as if they had been written by the same person, or, more likely, by an AI model. “Polished turds,” she called them. “It looks good on the surface, but there is nothing of substance or value in what it’s actually saying.” I was terrified to give my life but also afraid I wouldn’t be brave enough to die for my students. In fact, I don’t want to optimize my learning. As Heisenberg pointed out: you can’t watch something without changing it. Observers are never neutral. Journalists, by their very nature, cannibalize other people’s words to tell their own stories. “We’ve been successful in spite of her, not because of her,” she said. Like others, I have now concluded that working directly on individual and collective teacher norms, building broader and deeper teacher knowledge and skills in classroom instruction—not big-ticket structural changes—have a far better chance of improving teaching practices.
You might want to check out The Best Resources For Learning About The Issue Of “Learning Styles”
You might want to check out Best Posts On Books: Why They’re Important & How To Help Students Select, Read, Write & Discuss Them.
 What Do The Election Results Mean For Education? Schäferle / Pixabay
It was a great election night, and it only seems to be getting better! Here are some decent commentaries from folks about what the results mean for education: Democrats Will Control Congress. What Educators Can Expect is from Ed Week. How the 2026 election scrambled the politics of American education is from Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat. Democrats sweep in blue tsunami. What does it mean for education? is also from Chalkbeat.
For those of us in California, here are some articles from Ed Source: Xavier Becerra will become California governor as education shake-up looms Richard Barrera leads Sonja Shaw in California superintendent race by wide margin, results show Split decision on taxing the wealthy: Prop. 3 wins, Prop. 40 losing And here’s an interesting article from some folks at USC: What Should Governor Becerra Do About Education? Three Ideas  A Beginning List Of The Most Interesting & Helpful Posts On “Sold A Story 2” & Direct (or “direct”) Instruction geralt / Pixabay
Emily Hanford’s Sold A Story podcast has helped prompt a debate on the so-called “Science of Reading” (I think Michael Pershan’s post, Emily Hanford’s Story Was Basically Wrong is the best piece to read about it). Now, she’s back with Sold A Story 2, which focuses on Direct (with a capital D) Instruction. It’s obviously sparking debate, and here’s a beginning list of what I think are the most interesting and useful pieces to read about it (I’ll be adding to the list as time goes on): Direct Instruction is the American Default is by Michael Pershan. What ‘Sold a Story’ Misses About Direct Instruction is the headline of one of my recent Education Week columns. DI and di – why they are not the same and why that matters is by Daniel Muijs. Direct Instruction: What to Know About the Topic of the Next ‘Sold a Story’ Podcast is from Ed Week. To Sell a Story is by Marcus Luther. Selling a story that’s lost the plot is by Ben Riley. Abuse as Old as Time is by Gary Stager. For what it’s worth, I found this ChatGPT explanation of Project Follow Through, highlighted in Sold a Story 2, very illuminating. Trevor Aleo and Nick Covington have been publishing a good series of posts analyzing the podcasts.
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