Getting Explicit Instruction Right

There has been substantial public debate about the potentially deleterious effects of the long-run move to “inquiry-based learning” in which students are placed at the center of an educational journey and arrive at their own understanding of what is being taught. There have been numerous calls for a return to “direct” or “explicit” instruction. This paper focuses on the impact of implementing explicit instruction via peer modelling, estimating its causal effect on student performance in standardized tests. We utilise a unique setting in Australia—a country in which all students in grades 3, 5, 7, and 9 undergo annual basic skills tests (“NAPLAN”)—and administrative data. We take a synthetic control and use Charlestown South Public School—a median-performing school—as a case study. Importantly, Charlestown South implemented explicit instruction via peer modelling, consisting in teaching staff sitting-in during the classes of a high-performing explicit-instruction school. We find that the student performance gains are large (0.9-2.7 standard deviations) and persistent.