[jessriedel]

The existence of spaced repetition also shows how dysfunctional educational systems (both public and private) are at making evidence-based improvements. If a method with such a clear overwhelming advantage at the stated goal isn't incorporated by schools, what hope is there that they'll make improvements where the evidence is hazier?

[michael_nielsen]

One of the most cited papers in the area is Frank Dempster's paper about the failure of educational systems to adopt spaced repetition: http://andrewvs.blogs.com/usu/files/the_spacing_effect.pdf Although the paper was was written almost 30 years, little has changed.

[summarite]

It is taken up, just not everywhere and not necessarily at scale. I've personally seen it used eg at Finnish schools - but there the teacher chooses the tool, not the government, so i don't know how common it is.

With more and more devices in class you can expect directed spaced repetition to hit hard. But actually i don't know a single person who didn't at some point get the instruction/advice to use flashcards for foreign language vocabulary. That being said it's not used much in other subjects - because no serious educationalist thinks education is about hammering facts into the brain. It's much more about concepts and critical thinking, at least in any semi-modern classroom .