High Impact, Low Cost Solutions for School Improvement

In the midst of budget cuts of a largely failing public education system (especially in low income areas), many are wondering how to improve quality at a low cost. Today the BBC published a story relaying strategies researched by the Sutton Trust that can do just that - improve grades at a low cost. The BBC focuses on the use of feedback to raise grades: "Comments should be specific, related to challenging tasks, given sparingly so they are meaningful, and encourage self-esteem by focusing on the positive, the researchers said." As some of our schools have found, as well as the Khan Academy, allowing peers to tutor each other is also "high impact, low cost." Surprisingly, techniques that were found not to have much of an impact were reducing class size, homework in primary school, and implementing school uniforms. Check out the rest of the results at the Sutton Trust. STC teachers and leaders, have you found these to be the case at your school? Are there any high impact, low cost techniques they missed?