A Walkthrough Moment

You peek into two classrooms right after lunch.

Room A: The teacher is “reviewing” by reteaching yesterday’s lesson. Students copy notes while nodding along. A few eyes wander toward the window. When the teacher asks, “Any questions?” silence fills the room. It looks calm, even efficient — but no one has actually had to think.

Room B: Down the hall, the teacher starts class with a quick recall challenge. Students jot down three things they remember from yesterday's science experiment and then turn to a partner to compare notes. A handful of students can’t quite remember, but hear what their partner wrote down. The teacher then asks a few groups to share their answers while listing them on the whiteboard. After compiling the list, students discuss what they think was the most important takeaway and why.

Both rooms feel productive. Only one is building lasting learning by applying the Science of Learning and High Yield Strategies.

Why Talk About the Science of Learning?

When I walk through schools with principals, moments like these spark some of our best conversations. What looks effective isn’t always what leads to learning. That’s where the Science of Learning comes in and why it must sit alongside the High-Yield Strategies proven to improve student achievement.

Just as the Science of Reading has transformed literacy instruction by grounding practice in cognitive research, the Science of Learning offers that same foundation across all subjects. It explains how memory, attention, and transfer really work, through principles like retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, dual coding, feedback, and managing cognitive load.

I was first introduced to these ideas through Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, and Mark McDaniel. Since then, I’ve seen how these principles come alive when leaders and teachers understand why high-yield strategies are effective and what to do. That understanding changes how principals talk about instruction, observe classrooms, and guide professional learning.

In the U.K., cognitive science now shapes teacher training and curriculum design. In the U.S., implementation is more uneven. As The 74 notes, while British classrooms regularly use retrieval and spacing, many American classrooms still rely on review routines and reteaching that don’t align with how memory truly develops.

So what does this mean for you as a principal? The next level of instructional leadership lies in helping teachers connect what they know about High-Yield Strategies to how students actually learn. Awareness is step one. Systematic action is step two.

Connecting the ‘How’ (Cognitive Science) to the ‘What’ (High-Yield Strategies)

At its core, the Science of Learning isn’t about flashy apps or reinventing the wheel. It’s about cognitive science, which includes decades of research on how memory, attention, and practice shape what students retain and transfer.

This research tells us that:

• Retrieval beats review. Students remember more when they actively recall information rather than re-reading it. (Make It Stick describes a study where students who wrote what they remembered after reading outperformed those who re-read the passage weeks later.)
  

• Spacing strengthens memory. Revisiting content over time, not all at once, helps learning stick.  When schools schedule structured retrieval, short, planned opportunities to revisit prior learning across days or weeks, students retain knowledge longer and connect it to new material.
  

• Interleaving deepens transfer. Mixing types of problems or concepts builds flexible thinking. For example, I saw a teacher stop students working on task cards to have them do two rounds of Which Word Doesn't Belong on a different topic.
  

• Dual coding enhances comprehension. Pairing words with visuals, such as diagrams, charts, or concept maps, helps students organize and retain information by engaging both verbal and visual memory systems. 
  

• Feedback fuels growth. Timely, targeted feedback supports a stronger understanding than extra practice alone. Feedback must be actionable or reinforce what the students are missing or have demonstrated.  
  

It also clears up a few long-held misconceptions. Tailoring lessons to students’ “learning styles” may feel intuitive, but research shows it doesn’t improve learning. The benefits for all learners are achieved by applying the Science of Learning and High Yield Instructional Strategies to support how the brain encodes and retrieves information.

Bridging the Science of Learning and High-Yield Strategies

High-Yield Strategies have long represented the practices that deliver the “biggest bang for the buck” in classrooms. What makes this moment in education so powerful is how clearly the Science of Learning reinforces those same strategies.

When teachers use summarizing, they’re leveraging retrieval and elaboration. When they use identifying similarities and differences, they’re prompting students to build stronger neural connections and deepen transfer.

This connection matters. When principals help teachers see that High-Yield Strategies are not just effective techniques but applications of how the brain learns best, it transforms implementation. Teachers no longer use them simply because they “work”; instead, they use them because they are anchored in science.

From Research to Practice: Linking Science and Strategy

Each core principle of the Science of Learning, retrieval, spacing, interleaving, managing cognitive load, dual coding, and feedback, has direct, practical links to strategies teachers already use. 

1. Retrieval Practice → Summarizing, Effective Questioning, Distributed Summarizing

Retrieval practice is the classic “use it or lose it.” When students pull information from memory, they strengthen and solidify learning far more than when they simply re-read or listen again (Roediger & Karpicke, 181–182).

High Yield Connection

• Summarizing: Requires students to recall and reframe key knowledge in their own words.

• Effective Questioning: Prompts recall through clarifying or higher-order questions.

• Distributed Summarizing: Is a framework that revisits retrieval at multiple points in a lesson or unit.
  

• Activating Strategies: Require students to pull prior knowledge in preparation for adding new learning.

What It Looks Like

• Primary (K–2): After a read-aloud, students retell the beginning, middle, and end without looking back.

• Intermediate (3–5): Math warm-ups include three fraction problems from last week’s lesson.

• Middle School (6–8): Science quick-checks include low-stakes recall questions on vocabulary.
  

• High School (9–12): History begins with a “2-minute recall” of the Reconstruction amendments.
  

2. Spacing → Distributed Summarizing, Distributed Learning, Distributed Practice

Spacing means spreading practice across time to strengthen long-term retention (Cepeda et al., 370–371).

High Yield Connection

• Distributed Summarizing: Revisits key content at regular intervals, not just at the end of a unit.
  

• Distributed Learning: Ensures essential standards and concepts reappear across weeks and units to reinforce retention.
  

• Distributed Practice: In Math classrooms, this ensures students do practice all at once (Mass Practice)

What It Looks Like

• Primary (K–2): Tricky words practiced on Monday reappear in centers on Wednesday and Friday.
  

• Intermediate (3–5): Multiplication facts resurface in weekly warm-ups even during division units.
  

• Middle School (6–8): Slope problems continue in daily warm-ups after the main unit concludes.
  

• High School (9–12): Biology lessons revisit photosynthesis throughout the semester.
  

3. Interleaving → Higher Order Thinking Strategies, Graphic Organizers, Collaborative Pairs

Interleaving involves mixing types of problems, questions, or concepts so that students must determine which approach or strategy applies. It strengthens flexibility, transfer, and conceptual understanding (Rohrer & Taylor, 781). Rather than practicing one skill in isolation, students alternate among related ideas, which forces them to retrieve prior learning, analyze patterns, and make judgments about what to use and why.

This process engages Higher Order Thinking. Students don’t just recall, they compare, justify, evaluate, and analyze relationships between concepts. In doing so, they develop the kind of adaptive expertise that helps them apply knowledge in new situations, a hallmark of deep learning.

High Yield Connection

• Higher Order Thinking:

• Compare/Contrast: Encourages students to analyze similarities and differences to reveal underlying principles.

• Justification: Requires students to explain why a certain method, claim, or example fits best.

• Analyzing Relationships: Builds understanding of how ideas connect or diverge conceptually.

• Graphic Organizers: Help students visualize relationships and categorize information as they sort or justify decisions. They also help decrease Cognitive Load.

• Collaborative Pairs: Promote reasoning through dialogue, explanation, and peer feedback.
  

What It Looks Like

• Primary (K–2): Sorting mixed shapes (triangles, squares, rectangles) using a T-chart to show shared and unique attributes.
  

• Intermediate (3–5): Mixed-operation math practice where students explain which operation they chose and why, using color-coded graphic organizers.
  

• Middle School (6–8): Students analyze fiction, nonfiction, and poetry excerpts in one lesson and justify which best supports a theme using a comparison chart.
  

• High School (9–12): Algebra II assignments mix linear, quadratic, and exponential equations; students collaborate to evaluate which model best fits a data set and defend their reasoning.
  

4. Cognitive Load & Scaffolding → Acceleration, Vocabulary, Scaffolding Supports

Cognitive load theory reminds us that working memory is limited. Overload occurs when new learning isn’t supported by prior knowledge or a clear structure (Sweller, 257).

High Yield Connection

• Acceleration: 

  • Previewing helps to frontload critical vocabulary and concepts so students aren’t overwhelmed later.

  • Scaffolding helps to ensure students can engage with grade-level expectations. The process breaks complex tasks into manageable steps, gradually removing supports as independence grows.
    

• Vocabulary Instruction: Reduces load by giving access to essential terms early.
  

What It Looks Like

• Primary (K–2): Sentence starters support writing during shared composition.
  

• Intermediate (3–5): Graphic organizer breaks the American Revolution into “Causes, Effects, Key Figures.”
  

• Middle School (6–8): Lab directions are revealed one step at a time to prevent overload.
  

• High School (9–12): Chemistry equations practiced with color-coded models before full notation.
  

5. Dual Coding → Graphic Organizers, Vocabulary, Visual Representations

Dual coding is the process of pairing visual and verbal information to enhance comprehension and retention (Mayer, 31). When students encounter ideas through both words and images, they create multiple pathways for retrieval in long-term memory.

Dual coding isn’t just about adding pictures—it’s about selecting visuals that clarify thinking. Effective teachers use this principle to reduce cognitive load, deepen understanding, and help students make connections between abstract and concrete ideas.

High Yield Connection

• Graphic Organizers: Combine words and visuals to show relationships, categories, and hierarchies.
  

• Vocabulary Instruction: Uses images or symbols to anchor key terms and build meaning.
  

• Visual Representations: Diagrams, timelines, and concept maps help students recall complex ideas.
  

What It Looks Like

• Primary (K–2): Students draw pictures next to vocabulary words to reinforce meaning.
  

• Intermediate (3–5): Science concepts displayed in labeled diagrams or life cycle charts.
  

• Middle School (6–8): Students create concept maps linking forces, motion, and energy.

• High School (9–12): History timelines pair key events with symbols or visuals to highlight cause and effect.

6. Feedback → Formative Assessments, Writing to Learn, Effective Questioning

Feedback is among the most powerful influences on achievement when it is timely, specific, and focused on improvement (Hattie & Timperley, 81).

High Yield Connection

• Formative Assessments: Capture learning evidence and guide next instructional steps, and allow teachers to give targeted feedback.
  

• Writing to Learn: Reveals student thinking for feedback and revision.

• Effective Questioning: Provides immediate feedback through probing and clarifying.
  

What It Looks Like

• Primary (K–2): Teacher corrects letter sounds in real time during phonics practice.
  

• Intermediate (3–5): Exit tickets reveal fraction misconceptions that shape tomorrow’s lesson.
  

• Middle School (6–8): Peer review of thesis statements using a clear rubric.
  

• High School (9–12): Students solve physics problems on whiteboards while the teacher gives immediate prompts.

Common Myths That Get in the Way

Even with the best intentions, long-standing beliefs about learning can hold schools back from evidence-based practice, such as:

• Learning Styles: There’s no evidence that teaching to “visual” or “auditory” learners improves outcomes (Pashler et al., 109).
  

• More Practice = Mastery: Re-reading and repetition feel productive, but don’t create durable learning without retrieval.
  

• Remediation Over Acceleration: Slowing down to “catch up” often keeps students behind; acceleration—frontloading key knowledge—supports access and growth.
  
  

Leadership Move: Replace each myth with the High Yield Strategy (HYS) that reflects the research instead.

Assessing Current Understanding

Before deciding on next steps, principals can start by administering a Science of Learning Quiz to their staff. The quiz isn’t about evaluation, it’s about surfacing assumptions. It helps identify where teacher beliefs align with research and where misconceptions may still shape practice. You can download the quiz by clicking here.

Use the quiz results as a diagnostic tool:

• Low retrieval scores? Prioritize Summarizing and Effective Questioning.
  

• Low spacing scores? Embed Distributed Summarizing and Distributed Learning in pacing.
  

• Feedback misconceptions? Reinforce Formative Assessment and Writing to Learn.

The quiz reveals where the gaps are. The High Yield Strategies are the treatment plan.

What Principals Can Do

1. Professional Development

Use Professional Development sessions and PLCs to connect the science of learning to the strategies teachers already know. Show how:

• Summarizing and Distributed Summarizing strengthen retrieval and spacing.
  

• Acceleration and Vocabulary Instruction manage cognitive load.
  

• Effective Questioning combines retrieval and feedback.
  

• Graphic Organizers and Dual Coding support comprehension and retention.
  

Frame High Yield Strategies not as “new initiatives” but as research in action.

2. Walkthrough Look-Fors

When you observe classrooms, look beyond compliance to cognition. Notice whether:

• Students are recalling knowledge, not just receiving it.
  

• Lessons revisit prior content across days and weeks.
  

• Tasks are scaffolded to reduce cognitive load.
  

• Feedback loops are visible and actionable.
  

• Visual tools and graphic organizers reinforce understanding.
  

Use these look-fors to guide coaching conversations and celebrate effective practice.

3. Curriculum and Strategic Planning

Audit pacing guides and curriculum maps. Ask:

• Do they create space for retrieval and review over time?
  

• Are key concepts distributed, not crammed into short bursts?
  

• Do assessments reward long-term retention rather than short-term recall?
  

Encourage teams to design distributed learning experiences where essential standards reappear across units and contexts.

4. Connect Strategies Through a Coherent Planning Framework

Every school benefits from a consistent instructional planning framework, a shared structure that helps teachers connect strategies to how students actually learn. When schools intentionally align planning, instruction, and reflection to the science of learning, classroom practices become more focused, efficient, and impactful.

Encourage teachers to use whatever planning model your school or district employs, whether it’s a lesson design framework, PLC structure, or unit planning tool, to intentionally embed these principles. The goal isn’t to add more initiatives, but to ensure that every strategy connects to how the brain learns best.

Reflection + Call to Action

Reflection

• Do my teachers see High-Yield Strategies as isolated techniques or as applications of learning science?

• Which of the common myths still influences instruction in my building?

• Where do our pacing, feedback, or questioning routines need stronger alignment with how learning actually happens?
  

Call to Action

• Give the Quiz. Use it to start the conversation.
  

• Select 1–2 Focus Strategies. Choose those most aligned with your staff’s needs.
  

• Adjust PD and Walkthroughs. Highlight the cognitive science behind effective teaching.
  

• Model the Learning Process. Let your leadership reflect the same principles you want in classrooms: retrieval, reflection, feedback, and growth over time.
  

Principals are the Chief Learning Officers of their schools. By embedding the science of learning into daily practice, you move instruction beyond activity to impact.

There’s no single fix for every challenge, but grounding instruction in learning science ensures that every strategy builds deeper, more durable knowledge.

Works Cited

Brown, P. C., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Belknap Press.

Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105–119.

Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.

Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning. Instructional Science, 35(6), 481–498.

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285.