What Works in the Elementary School

Don Jacobs

Can teachers have a positive effect on their students’ academic achievement? The answer is a resounding yes. Educational research tells us that there are many activities and methods teachers can employ to positively effect their students’ academic achievements.

• Get the parents involved. Simple activities, such as having parents sign homework papers, listen to their child read, drill math facts, and visit the classroom, lead to increased academic achievement.
• Teach students to read by using phonics as a tool. The best instructional methods integrate phonics with reading instruction rather than teaching it as a separate topic.
• Introduce reading lessons with background information and questions to answer as students read silently. Students who are well prepared by the teacher before reading a story understand better what they read. Thought provoking questions help the students realize that they are reading for information.
• Use hands-on experiments in science. Children learn science best when they are active participants.
• Teach new math concepts with manipulatives. Children learn new concepts by beginning on the concrete level. Manipulatives (Unifix cubes, blocks, fraction pieces, etc.) provide important foundational learning for later concepts.
• Set and expect high standards from your students. Teachers who believe their students can learn obtain greater academic performance from their students. Teacher expectations are often self-fulfilling prophecies.

Adapted by Don Jacobs from What Works: Research About Teaching and Learning. U.S. Department of Education, 1987.

Reprinted from Teacher to Teacher, September 2000.

Used with permission from BJU Press. For permission to reproduce this article, please write BJU Press.