I’ve always thought teaching was an art, an art a person was born with, a magical property of connecting and understanding children. Indeed in the 1960’s the Coleman report indicated that schooling really didn’t matter at all, and that only 10% of a student’s eventual success could be attributed to the quality of the school. A follow-up report confirmed the results, indicating that much of a student success is outside of the control of the school.

The study is still true — schools don’t make a difference, but follow-up studies of individual classrooms have shown that the teacher does make a difference. There is a wide achievement gap among students based on the quality of teaching. Great teachers make a difference with low and high achieving students.

But, what is great teaching? What reaches students? Until I started teaching, and my Supervisor handed me a book called Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement, I didn’t know either.

Since the 1970’s, hundreds of thousands of research studies have been done on education. Marzarno, Pickering and Pollock, the authors of the book, have summarized the best research, compared it and identified nine teaching strategies that have the highest level of effect on student achievement. Teachers can learn and implement specific strategies to increase student learning and none of them are particularly difficult.

Your child’s teacher has a significant difference in your child’s level of achievement. But if your teacher is using the right strategies, they don’t have to have been born with magical teaching properties. The strategies, consistently applied to the right lessons can help your child succeed. Even if your child’s teacher doesn’t turn out to be the best, you can use these with your own student at home to help them learn.

Jeanne Whitmore is the founder and CEO of American Fork charter school Aristotle Academy, and an education columnist for the American Fork Citizen. You can learn more about Aristotle Academy at aristotleacademyk8.org or on Facebook.