Lesson Elements

Background: What’s are the critical ingredients of effective lessons? We’re currently distilling decades worth of meta-research and studying the practices of high performing teachers to identify a handful of critical practices that lead to effective lessons.

Right now, much of the research around instructional design is exploring how resources can improve teaching. We are alarmed by trends that tend to instrumentalize teachers. Instead, we’d like to offer practices that center education on the skill and craft of teaching, where resources are surely useful, but never reduce the agency of the educator in the classroom.

Purpose: To surface a small number critical practices that lead to effective daily lessons. We’re adhering to Pareto’s Principle (more commonly known as the 80/20 rule) to surface a set of first principles and core practices that make for good lessons.

Participants: A host of proven educators across a host of public, charter, and private K-12 schools, as well as several university professors.

Expected Completion: Summer 2025