The Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative (MBLC) is a demonstration project taking place in 47 schools across Washington to help decision makers understand what quality mastery-based (or competency-based) learning looks like, how long it takes to implement, and what resources are necessary. The schools receive funding, coaching, and professional…

Exciting developments for New Zealand education have provided opportunities recently for teachers and other educators to express their professional aspirations in assessment. The mantle of fostering teachers' professionalism through strong relationships across the education sector and relevant stakeholder groups, and the provision of timely…

Pathblazer is a supplemental, online intervention program that helps struggling learners in grades K-8 achieve grade-level proficiency in mathematics and reading. It offers students individualized learning progression paths with fun, motivating content that addresses skill and concept gaps. Using existing student data or results from a screener,…

The research reviewed in this report suggests that some of the contentions about schools, districts, and communities in rural areas are mistaken. Many of the issues they face also confront urban and suburban educators, and rural communities offer several distinctive educational advantages. A lack of student motivation to learn is a problem often…

Six studies are reviewed which indicate that direct instruction tends to produce higher academic gains for handicapped children than traditional approaches. They also suggest that some subtle principles of direct instruction--such as insistence on complete (rather than partial) mastery of each step in the learning process--are important.…

Thirteen elementary and secondary, and two college teachers, with various subject specialties, implemented Bloom's mastery learning in their classrooms as part of a graduate course on that teaching method. This article presents some of their positive and negative reactions to the mastery learning model. (SJL)

Urges accurate assessment of program implementation and the determination of student performance in areas not measured by achievement tests. Offers indicators of hard-to-measure levels of achievement in teachers and students, as they have been developed in the Johnson City, New York, Public Schools' mastery learning approach. (JW)

Teachers and researchers can learn more about mastery learning by looking at the full picture instead of the small area on which R. E. Slavin focuses. Effects on precollege examinations constitute only a small part of the story; the larger literature presents many examples of its effectiveness. (SLD)

Schools which have successfully implemented mastery learning (ML) programs show many similarities in their plans for ML development. These similarities stand out so strongly that knowledge of them can help all schools in planning for ML. The following program commonalities observed during visits to several schools in New York, Washington,…

A brief description is given of a small school district in which the Mastery Learning approach to instruction has been operative since 1971. This study examined the teacher evaluation records written by the school principals in the District in order to determine the behaviors, attitudes and actions that these school administrators encourage in…

Research evidence shows that mastery learning is much more effective than conventional methods; however, it is not yet known whether it works equally well for all kinds of learning and for all kinds of students. (Author/JM)

This study compared 46 teachers who were trained in and implemented mastery learning techniques with 50 similar teachers who were not trained to see if mastery learning changed the explanations they offered for their effectiveness. The results are set forth and implications for staff development are drawn. (Author/MT)

Findings of positive effects of mastery learning on experimenter-made measures can be interpreted as supporting the view that this technique may help focus teachers on a given set of objectives. The claim that mastery learning can accelerate achievement, in general, in elementary and secondary schools is still awaiting evidence. (SLD)

A meta-analysis of findings from 108 controlled evaluations showed that mastery learning programs have positive effects on the examination performance of students in colleges, high schools, and the upper grades in elementary schools. Effects of mastery programs on student attitudes, instructional time, and college completion rates are discussed.…

These proceedings contain three reports of improvement programs designed to help students to succeed in large urban school systems. In the first report, the "Achievement Goals Program" (AGP) is described as a highly structured, objective based instructional program in reading and mathematics carried out for the purpose of reducing racial…