alt Hacker NewsThe flipside of that take is that if you listened to technologists, then educational TV/CD-ROMs/laptops/the internet/tablets/educational games/digital blackboards/MOOCs/etc. were going to completely revolutionize education - but looking at the evidence, it doesn't seem like students have gained much at all from any of it.
I remember an educator ranting to me a long time ago that the only data-proven ways to meaningfully improve educational outcomes was to reduce classroom size and make sure kids got enough sleep + fed well enough, everything else was just a waste of time.
From all my years of schooling one of the biggest factors is the combination of level of interest from the student, with parent involvement following that, once you cross the basic threshold of stable home with regular sleep and food. Some kids don't care and even perfect parents won't matter, but disinterested parents also drag a bunch of kids down.