In an exciting first for Australian schools, classroom teacher Jason Bennett is pioneering a ground-breaking approach to improving student learning. At St Joseph’s Catholic School The Strand, Jason is leading a WhatWorked Teachers Micro-Randomised Controlled Trial (micro-RCT). This initiative gives teachers the tools to experiment with, test, and fine-tune teaching strategies based on real classroom evidence. It's a big step forward in empowering educators to discover what truly works for their students and create even more effective learning environments.
Why This Micro-RCT Matters
At the heart of this small-scale research study is a dedication to working collaboratively with teachers, helping them gather meaningful data that is rigorous and context-specific in order to inform their practice. Jason’s approach is all about making informed decisions to improve student outcomes —an essential mission that resonates with educators around the world. By using WhatWorked Education's online platform, WhatWorked Teachers, Jason is leading the way in testing interventions through micro-RCTs that are tailored to meet the unique needs of his students and address the challenges they face. His work highlights the power of research in shaping effective teaching practices that truly make a difference.
But why is it so important to research an intervention rather than just adopting it right away? While it’s tempting to embrace new ideas quickly, without solid evidence, we might waste valuable time and effort on something that doesn’t actually benefit our students—or worse, could even have a negative impact.
When we try out a new teaching method or tool, it's natural to rely on what we see in our classrooms or look at end-of-year results to see if it’s making a difference. However, personal observations or assessment data can sometimes be misleading. We all have our own biases, and there are so many factors outside our control—like student behaviour or unexpected events—that can skew the results. This is where Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) come into play. An RCT is the most reliable way to evaluate an intervention because it eliminates many of those outside influences. By randomly assigning students or classes to either an intervention group or a control group, we can make sure that any changes we see are genuinely down to the new approach, not other factors.
That said, while RCTs are great in theory, they’re not always practical for teachers. They can require a lot of time, a lot of money, lots of students, and a level of control that isn’t realistic in a busy school environment. This is where micro-RCTs come in. These smaller, teacher-friendly trials let teachers test new interventions on a more manageable scale, with just a few classes.
The Microsoft Reading Progress Intervention
Interpreting the Effect Size
One of the standout results of Jason’s micro-RCT is an effect size of 1.41 (Hedges' g), which indicates a significant positive impact of the Microsoft Reading Progress intervention. An effect size of 1.41 suggests a substantial improvement in reading accuracy, positioning this intervention as a promising strategy for enhancing literacy in the classroom.
We advise teachers to not directly compare the effect sizes of the micro-RCTs to larger scale trials, due to methodological factors.
The Power of Collaborative Research
Reflecting on the impact of collaborative research, Jason Bennett, a primary teacher, remarked, “Collaborative research like the micro-RCTs provided by the team at What Worked Education has been an eye-opener for me, both in terms of understanding the tangible impact on students’ reading fluency and witnessing a significant boost in their engagement and motivation to read aloud. The power of tools like Microsoft Reading Progress lies in the real-time data it provides, allowing teachers to make immediate adjustments to support individual student needs. Then the added benefit, using AI to generate stories that match student interests has been a game-changer, making reading more engaging and relevant. This process isn’t just about adopting new strategies—it’s about finding what works for our specific students, and that’s where the real power of evidence-based teaching lies.”
Co-founder of WhatWorked Education, Professor Steve Higgins explains “Summaries of evidence in education tell you what works on average in other classrooms and other schools, it does not tell you whether it will work for you. A micro-trial is an effective way to check whether a particular approach is the solution you need.”
This micro-RCT initiative embodies a crucial shift towards teacher-driven evidence generation. Jason’s experience highlights the importance of collaboration—between teachers and researchers—to achieve sustainable, scalable improvements in teaching practices.
What’s Next?
The journey doesn’t end with one classroom. WhatWorked is excited to share the findings from Jason’s micro-RCT and encourage more educators across Australia to embark on their own research journeys. Every classroom presents unique challenges, and by empowering teachers like Jason to lead micro-RCTs, we’re building a community committed to continuous improvement in education.
The power of the WhatWorked Teachers platform is the ability for a fellow teacher to directly replicate an evaluation in their school to find out ‘Does this work for my students?’
This allows the WhatWorked team to gather and combine data from different trials in a cumulative meta-analysis, building a growing evidence base for each specific intervention.This means teachers can easily see how well different strategies work in real classrooms and get a clear idea of which ones are most likely to make a positive impact. It’s a handy way to help teachers make informed decisions about what’s worth trying in their own lessons.
If you are a primary school teacher in Australia and you have access to Microsoft Teams, sign up to the FREE Reading Progress trial here. We will then guide you through how to set up the intervention and test this in the context of our school.
If you are a secondary school teacher, you have the opportunity to follow in Jason’s footsteps to be the first to test the impact of Microsoft Reading Progress in your school with this trial here.
Why This Micro-RCT Matters
At the heart of this small-scale research study is a dedication to working collaboratively with teachers, helping them gather meaningful data that is rigorous and context-specific in order to inform their practice. Jason’s approach is all about making informed decisions to improve student outcomes —an essential mission that resonates with educators around the world. By using WhatWorked Education's online platform, WhatWorked Teachers, Jason is leading the way in testing interventions through micro-RCTs that are tailored to meet the unique needs of his students and address the challenges they face. His work highlights the power of research in shaping effective teaching practices that truly make a difference.
But why is it so important to research an intervention rather than just adopting it right away? While it’s tempting to embrace new ideas quickly, without solid evidence, we might waste valuable time and effort on something that doesn’t actually benefit our students—or worse, could even have a negative impact.
When we try out a new teaching method or tool, it's natural to rely on what we see in our classrooms or look at end-of-year results to see if it’s making a difference. However, personal observations or assessment data can sometimes be misleading. We all have our own biases, and there are so many factors outside our control—like student behaviour or unexpected events—that can skew the results. This is where Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) come into play. An RCT is the most reliable way to evaluate an intervention because it eliminates many of those outside influences. By randomly assigning students or classes to either an intervention group or a control group, we can make sure that any changes we see are genuinely down to the new approach, not other factors.
That said, while RCTs are great in theory, they’re not always practical for teachers. They can require a lot of time, a lot of money, lots of students, and a level of control that isn’t realistic in a busy school environment. This is where micro-RCTs come in. These smaller, teacher-friendly trials let teachers test new interventions on a more manageable scale, with just a few classes.
The Microsoft Reading Progress Intervention
The WhatWorked Teachers platform features a number of free interventions that teachers can test via micro-RCT in their classroom. One of the interventions currently available is Microsoft Reading Progress, a tool that harnesses artificial intelligence to listen as students read aloud, catching common mistakes like mispronunciations, skipped words, repetitions, and phonological errors. This automated feedback system gives teachers immediate, actionable feedback, enabling them to efficiently track each student’s progress and focus on boosting their reading fluency—a key foundation for lifelong literacy.
The Evaluation set up
Jason signed up to the micro-RCT on the WhatWorked Teachers platform after seeing a Microsoft Blog post about a UK teacher trial for Reading Progress. After watching three short, easy-to-follow videos on how to set everything up, Jason chose two of his classes to take part in the trial. The platform’s trial wizard randomly assigned one class to the intervention group and the other to a control group. Both groups started with the same Reading Progress reading task to set a baseline. For the next eight weeks, the intervention group used Reading Progress once a week, while the control group continued with their usual routine. At the end of the trial, both groups completed the same reading assessment task again.
Jason then inputted the anonymised student data into the platform’s trial wizard. With just a few clicks, an automated analysis was generated, complete with an easy-to-understand teacher impact report, showing the difference the intervention had made for students’ reading scores. This gave Jason valuable insights into the effectiveness of using Reading Progress and how it could shape his teaching practice moving forward.
Key Findings from the Micro-RCT
The trial spanned from July to September 2024 and involved 45 primary school students from St Joseph's. The class-level randomisation allocated 24 students to the intervention group and 21 to the control group. Here’s what the results showed:
Pre-Test Mean Scores: Both groups started with similar pre-test averages—84.24 for the control group and 83.96 for the intervention group.
Post-Test Mean Scores: The intervention group showed a notable improvement, with an average post-test score of 86.29 compared to 84.05 in the control group.
The analysis in our platform uses Intention To Treat (ITT) and runs an ANCOVA to adjust for differences in pre-test scores due to the small sample sizes in micro-RCTS.
The Evaluation set up
Jason signed up to the micro-RCT on the WhatWorked Teachers platform after seeing a Microsoft Blog post about a UK teacher trial for Reading Progress. After watching three short, easy-to-follow videos on how to set everything up, Jason chose two of his classes to take part in the trial. The platform’s trial wizard randomly assigned one class to the intervention group and the other to a control group. Both groups started with the same Reading Progress reading task to set a baseline. For the next eight weeks, the intervention group used Reading Progress once a week, while the control group continued with their usual routine. At the end of the trial, both groups completed the same reading assessment task again.
Jason then inputted the anonymised student data into the platform’s trial wizard. With just a few clicks, an automated analysis was generated, complete with an easy-to-understand teacher impact report, showing the difference the intervention had made for students’ reading scores. This gave Jason valuable insights into the effectiveness of using Reading Progress and how it could shape his teaching practice moving forward.
Key Findings from the Micro-RCT
The trial spanned from July to September 2024 and involved 45 primary school students from St Joseph's. The class-level randomisation allocated 24 students to the intervention group and 21 to the control group. Here’s what the results showed:
Pre-Test Mean Scores: Both groups started with similar pre-test averages—84.24 for the control group and 83.96 for the intervention group.
Post-Test Mean Scores: The intervention group showed a notable improvement, with an average post-test score of 86.29 compared to 84.05 in the control group.
The analysis in our platform uses Intention To Treat (ITT) and runs an ANCOVA to adjust for differences in pre-test scores due to the small sample sizes in micro-RCTS.
Interpreting the Effect Size
One of the standout results of Jason’s micro-RCT is an effect size of 1.41 (Hedges' g), which indicates a significant positive impact of the Microsoft Reading Progress intervention. An effect size of 1.41 suggests a substantial improvement in reading accuracy, positioning this intervention as a promising strategy for enhancing literacy in the classroom.
We advise teachers to not directly compare the effect sizes of the micro-RCTs to larger scale trials, due to methodological factors.
The Power of Collaborative Research
Reflecting on the impact of collaborative research, Jason Bennett, a primary teacher, remarked, “Collaborative research like the micro-RCTs provided by the team at What Worked Education has been an eye-opener for me, both in terms of understanding the tangible impact on students’ reading fluency and witnessing a significant boost in their engagement and motivation to read aloud. The power of tools like Microsoft Reading Progress lies in the real-time data it provides, allowing teachers to make immediate adjustments to support individual student needs. Then the added benefit, using AI to generate stories that match student interests has been a game-changer, making reading more engaging and relevant. This process isn’t just about adopting new strategies—it’s about finding what works for our specific students, and that’s where the real power of evidence-based teaching lies.”
Co-founder of WhatWorked Education, Professor Steve Higgins explains “Summaries of evidence in education tell you what works on average in other classrooms and other schools, it does not tell you whether it will work for you. A micro-trial is an effective way to check whether a particular approach is the solution you need.”
This micro-RCT initiative embodies a crucial shift towards teacher-driven evidence generation. Jason’s experience highlights the importance of collaboration—between teachers and researchers—to achieve sustainable, scalable improvements in teaching practices.
What’s Next?
The journey doesn’t end with one classroom. WhatWorked is excited to share the findings from Jason’s micro-RCT and encourage more educators across Australia to embark on their own research journeys. Every classroom presents unique challenges, and by empowering teachers like Jason to lead micro-RCTs, we’re building a community committed to continuous improvement in education.
The power of the WhatWorked Teachers platform is the ability for a fellow teacher to directly replicate an evaluation in their school to find out ‘Does this work for my students?’
This allows the WhatWorked team to gather and combine data from different trials in a cumulative meta-analysis, building a growing evidence base for each specific intervention.This means teachers can easily see how well different strategies work in real classrooms and get a clear idea of which ones are most likely to make a positive impact. It’s a handy way to help teachers make informed decisions about what’s worth trying in their own lessons.
If you are a primary school teacher in Australia and you have access to Microsoft Teams, sign up to the FREE Reading Progress trial here. We will then guide you through how to set up the intervention and test this in the context of our school.
If you are a secondary school teacher, you have the opportunity to follow in Jason’s footsteps to be the first to test the impact of Microsoft Reading Progress in your school with this trial here.
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