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Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

Teacher subject matter knowledge

Overview

  • Influence: Teacher subject matter knowledge
  • Domain: Teacher
  • Sub-Domain: Teacher education
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Likely to have positive impact
  • Influence Definition: Such knowledge can relate to pedagogical, content, or horizon (seeing connections with the content the teacher is teaching) knowledge. Essentially you cannot teach what you do not know.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 4
  • Number of studies: 105
  • Number of students: NA
  • Number of effects: 197
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.25
  • Robustness index: 2

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Journal of Research in Science Teaching Druva & Anderson Science teacher characteristics by teacher behavior and by student outcome: A meta-analysis of research 1983 Teacher background in science 51 NA 51 0.30
Conference paper Ahn & Choi Teachers' Subject Matter Knowledge as a Teacher Qualification: A Synthesis of the Quantitative Literature on Students' Mathematics Achievement 2004 Teacher knowledge in mathematics 27 NA 64 0.12
Campbell Collaboration Manning, Garvis, Fleming, & Wong The Relationship between Teacher Qualification and the Quality of the Early Childhood Care and Learning Environment. 2017 Teacher qualifications in EC on ratings of language & reasoning 12 NA 14 0.41
Conference paper Dupuis & Karl A meta-analysis of the relationship between teacher knowledge and student achievement in mathematics. 2017 Teacher knowledge in mathematics 15 NA 68 0.22
TOTAL/AVERAGE 105 NA 197 0.26
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