Canada’s Science of Learning Movement

On June 6-7, 2025, researchED returns to Toronto for its annual conference. If you haven’t heard of researchED, it is a grassroots organization dedicated to disseminating knowledge about evidence-informed approaches to teaching and learning. Carl Hendrick speaks eloquently about it in this episode, as does Rodrigo Lopez regarding researchED Chile. To be asked to be a featured speaker at researchED Canada this year is quite an honor. I won’t let these folks down.

Yes, it's true. @MrZachG is coming to Toronto for @researchEDCan as our featured speaker. WOW! Can't wait.

June 6-7, 2025
🗓 MARK YOUR CALENDARS!#evidenceinformed pic.twitter.com/740AMZKcZl

— Nidhi Sachdeva, PhD (@nsachdeva2019) December 18, 2024

A few more Canadian things:

An Op-ED by Michael Zwaagstra was published in the Winnipeg Sun titled, “Students will benefit from direct instruction, without a doubt” that features my book, Just Tell Them. Some of you may have noticed that the hard copy of my book keeps running out on Amazon. Target and Barnes & Noble always seem to have copies, and the Kindle version is ready for download. Please contact John Catt Educational, the publisher, for details on bulk discounts.

Yes, things seem to be looking up for Canada at the moment. Anna Stokke – which rhymes with hockey, no less – has an insanely good podcast called Chalk & Talk, on which I’ve appeared before. It has just released an episode about Project Follow Through featuring my friend, Marcy Stein. There is no end to the wisdom of Marcy, I have to tell you.

Canadian legend of model lessons, Kim Lockhart, appeared on my podcast last month to talk about her approach to explicit instruction. Kim and I are in talks about creating a flash webinar of sorts that features great exemplar videos, including hers. More details to come.

As you know, I left my school in August to become a full-time consultant. Part of what allowed me to do this was the partnerships I’ve made with evidence-informed school districts, including in Canada. I will make my first in-person visit to Evergreen School Division in a couple months to talk about explicit instruction. You can listen to me interview their superintendent, Scott Hill, on Progressively Incorrect.

Finally, my friend, Nate Hansford, has released a new meta-analysis on Reading Recovery that found statistically negative effects in the long term. This is quite startling, given that Reading Recovery is a resource intensive (1:1) tutoring program. In research, it’s often the case that any intensive instruction will show positive effects, even if the instruction itself is a bit inefficient, simply because the students know they are in the intervention and receive increased interaction with an instructor (and print). While it is impossible to isolate what caused the negative effects, the results are suggestive that the constructivist methods that are utilized in Reading Recovery, such as the three-cueing method, can undermine achievement in the long-run.

Although people on the ground are telling me it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, Canada’s science of learning movement seems to be headed in the right direction.