How Learning Science Is Shaping Teaching and Learning at Monticello Academy

Over the past two years, Monticello Academy has been engaged in a schoolwide effort to better understand how students learn—and how teachers can more effectively support that learning. This journey began with the Practical Applications of Learning Science (PALS) Handbook, a research-based guide originally developed for Naval instructors. The handbook distills decades of cognitive-science research into six powerful, easy-to-implement teaching strategies that consistently improve long-term retention and transfer of knowledge.

This summer, our teachers and administrators expanded that foundation by reading Blake Harvard’s Do I Have Your Attention?, which explores how attention, working-memory limits, and cognitive load shape what students actually remember. Together, these resources have helped us build a shared understanding of what truly drives learning.

Key Strategies We Are Bringing into Classrooms

From these studies, several high-impact practices are becoming common across classrooms:

• Retrieval Practice: More quick reviews, low-stakes quizzes, and student-led summaries that strengthen long-term memory by requiring students to recall information rather than re-read it.

• Spaced Practice: Revisiting key ideas over days and weeks to counter forgetting.

• Interleaving: Mixing problem types so students learn to recognize which strategy to use, not just how to use it.

• Dual Coding: Pairing visuals with spoken explanations while avoiding unnecessary text or distractions.

• Concrete Examples and Elaboration: Using relevant real-world examples and student-generated explanations to deepen understanding.

Harvard’s work on attention complements these practices by helping teachers design lessons that fit within students’ cognitive limits—reducing overload, chunking instruction, and using routines to support learning.

First grade team discussing how to better incorporate the insights of learning science into their lesson plans

Our Next Step: Teaching Students How to Learn

Our professional learning doesn’t end with teachers. One of our most important next steps is to help students themselves understand these principles. When young people know how learning works—why retrieval strengthens memory, why cramming fails, how attention is limited—they become more effective learners not only in our classrooms, but throughout their lives.

By teaching students the science behind learning, Monticello Academy aims to empower them with the skills and strategies they’ll use long after they leave our campus.