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This paper reported a comprehensive "meta-review" and synthesis of research on variables related to learning, including both cognitive and affective schooling outcomes. 1 A conceptual framework was developed encompassing 228 items related to school learning, organized a priori into 30 scales within six categories. Search and selection procedures yielded 179 selected handbook and annual review chapters, commissioned papers, and other authoritative reviews. Content analysis yielded over 3,700 ratings of the strength of influence of the variables on learning. The variables confU1lled the primacy of student, classroom, home, and community influences on learning relative to more distal policy variables such as state and district characteristics. Additionally, the variables also highlighted the importance of metacognition, classroom management, quantity of instruction, classroom interactions and climate, and the peer group. E ducational research has identified a large number of variables related to school learning. Because such a multiplicity of distinct influences on achievement have been found, educators may be perplexed as to which items are most important. Educational researchers, policy makers, and practitioners all require clearer guidance concerning the relative importance of different learning influences and the particular variables most likely to maximize school learning. To address this need, we did a comprehensive review and synthesis of handbooks, review annuals, and other highly synthetic prior reviews. We characterized the most authoritative scholarly opinion about ways to optimize educational outcomes across a range of educational conditions and settings. This research synthesis is distinguished by its comprehensiveness, its orientation toward practical school improvement strategies, and its focus on comparing the relative contributions of different items to learning. To organize the synthesis, we developed a conceptual framework that draws heavily on major theoretical models of school learning. Before turning to this framework, we briefly describe the evolution of these earlier theoretical models.

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