HIGH IMPACT TEACHING STRATEGIES - Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Sep 20, 2026

High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) synthesizes evidence-based classroom practices to improve student learning, engagement, and wellbeing. The resource explains what HITS are, the role of effect size, and who the strategies are for, including teachers, professional learning communities, and school leaders. It guides practical implementation through planning, structuring lessons, explicit teaching, worked examples, collaborative learning, multiple exposures, questioning, feedback, metacognitive strategies, and differentiated teaching, with attention to setting expectations and inclusion.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time1 h 21 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

What are the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS)?

Using the HITS

Providing feedback

HITS overview table

Setting Goals

Structuring Lessons

Explicit Teaching

Worked Examples

Collaborative Learning

Multiple Exposures

Questioning

Feedback

Metacognitive Strategies

Differentiated teaching

HIGH IMPACT TEACHING STRATEGIES Excellence in Teaching and Learning Curriculum planning and assessment Positive climate for learning Professional leadership Student achievement, engagement and wellbeing Empowering students Evidence-based high impact teaching strategies Excellence in teaching and learning and building school pride Health and wellbeing Setting expectations and promoting inclusion © State of Victoria First published by the Department of Education and Training, Melbourne June2017, revised and updated October 2020. High Impact Teaching Strategies – Excellence in teaching and learning is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Training), indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms, see: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International The licence does not apply to: • any images, photographs, trademarks or branding, including the Victorian Government logo and the DET logo; and • content supplied by third parties. Copyright queries may be directed to copyright@edumail. [vic.gov.au](vic.gov.au) ISBN: 978-0-7594-0820-3 2 | High Impact Teaching Strategies Contents Introduction 4 What are the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS)? 5 This resource offers: 5 What is effect size? 5 Who are the HITS for? 6 Teachers 6 Professional learning communities 6 School leaders 6 Using the HITS 7 Providing feedback 7 HITS overview table 8 Setting Goals 10 Structuring Lessons 12 Explicit Teaching 14 Worked Examples 16 Collaborative Learning 18 Multiple Exposures 20 Questioning 22 Feedback 24 Metacognitive Strategies 26 Differentiated teaching 28 High Impact Teaching Strategies | 3 Introduction When teachers work together to improve their practice, students learn more. This simple yet powerful idea is atthe heart of effective schools. Collaboration builds collective responsibility for constantly improving teaching practice and so student learning. The challenge for teachers and schools is to develop a shared understanding of what excellent practice looks like. While it will not look exactly the same in every classroom, there are some instructional practices that evidence suggests work well in most. These High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) have been brought together here to support the thousands of increasingly collaborative and evidence-based conversations taking place between teachers in schools each day. These strategies provide teachers and teams with opportunities to observe, reflect on and improve a range of fundamental classroom practices. The HITS are not intended to replace other teaching strategies teachers might already use with success. Instead, they will addto the repertoire of effective strategies that teachers can apply to the wide variety of learning needs that students present with each day. Since 2016, school leadership teams have drawn on the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) to drive strategic and annual planning atthe whole school level. By clearly and insistently directing that planning toward student learning, FISO is helping to identify and address persistent challenges for individual teachers and to build collective teacher efficacy. The HITS provide a clear link between the ‘Evidence Based High Impact Teaching Strategies’ dimension of FISO and classroom practice. Teachers can plan and adjust their practice in response to one or more of the HITS and monitor the impact on student engagement and learning outcomes. This resource provides a focus for the professional development efforts of individual teachers, which can be linked to the goals and feedback components of their own Performance and Development Plans. Teachers in all schools are encouraged to use the HITS to challenge themselves and their collea

FAQs

What is the purpose of the High Impact Teaching Strategies resource?

It brings together 10 instructional practices to support collaborative, evidence-based conversations and help teachers plan, observe, reflect on, and improve core classroom practices.

Do the HITS work in every classroom?

The strategies reliably increase learning when applied, but they are not infallible. Teachers’ professional judgement is needed to decide whether a HITS or another approach is best for specific students and concepts.

How do teachers use HITS for planning and improvement?

Teachers can plan and adjust practice based on one or more HITS, then monitor impact on engagement and learning outcomes, aligning professional development with performance and development goals and feedback.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Emma Mercer