The best evidence syntheses (BESs) bring together research evidence about ‘what works’ for diverse (all) learners in education. Recent BESs each include a number of cases that describe actual examples of professional practice and then analyse the findings. These cases support educators to grasp the big ideas behind effective practice at the same time as they provide vivid insight into their application.
In all schools, teachers are faced with the challenge of how best to support students with limited reading skills to access the curriculum. This case shows how a range of interactive teaching strategies accelerated the achievement of students with low levels of literacy. While the focus group is students aged 13 to 14 studying history, the case has relevance for all learning contexts.