Toward a Knowledge Base for School Learning

TLDR

The article aims to identify and estimate how educational, psychological, and social factors influence learning. The authors compiled over 11,000 relationships from 61 experts, 91 meta‑analyses, and 179 handbook chapters, then applied content analyses, expert ratings, and meta‑analytic results to quantify variable importance and consistency. The study finds moderate to substantial agreement that proximal factors—psychological, instructional, and home environment—have greater influence than distal factors, forming a robust knowledge base that can guide policy and practice.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify and estimate the influence of educational, psychological, and social factors on learning. Using evidence accumulated from 61 research experts, 91 meta-analyses, and 179 handbook chapters and narrative reviews, the data for analysis represent over 11,000 relationships. Three methods—content analyses, expert ratings, and results from meta-analyses—are used to quantify the importance and consistency of variables that influence learning. Regardless of which method is employed, there is moderate to substantial agreement on the categories exerting the greatest influence on school learning as well as those that have less influence. The results suggest an emergent knowledge base for school learning. Generally, proximal variables (e.g., psychological, instructional, and home environment) exert more influence than distal variables (e.g., demographic, policy, and organizational). The robustness and consistency of the findings suggest they can be used to inform educational policies and practices.