Schools are frequently inundated with demands to implement new instructional interventions and teaching methods that are not yet backed up by a solid body of research. Fortunately, many of these innovations include elements of more established strategies for which evidence of positive effects does exist. Guskey describes the core elements of one…

Background: Physical educators are faced with trying to provide motivating and enjoyable experiences in physical education. Sport Education is an instructional model that aims to provide positive motivational sport experiences by simulating the features of authentic sport. Research support for Sport Education is positive, however, the effects on…

Article suggests a systematic approach for two teachers to integrate mastery and grouping into an effective alternative to individualized and total classroom instruction. (Author)

While there are theories about how to close the achievement gap between black students and their white peers, what you need is the real low-down from frontline educators who know what works. Here's a book that gives you that plus a whole-school plan for raising the achievement of these chronically underserved students. Drawing from her work with…

In this interview with Executive Editor Ron Brandt, Bloom answers criticisms of mastery learning and explains why he believes it is so important. (Author/JM)

Examines recent research to show that group-based mastery learning programs have consistently positive effects on student learning outcomes, including academic achievement, material retention, involvement in learning activities, and student attitudes. These programs also affect teachers and have considerable potential for implementation in regular…

This paper discusses a number of contingency arrangements used in studies at the University of Kansas to enhance individualized characteristics of personalized instruction. It begins with an examination of Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) and its five defining features: (1) reliance on the written word, (2) unit mastery, (3) the…

Presents a theory of school learning that attempts to explain individual differences in school learning as well as to determine the ways in which such differences may be altered. (MP)

A synthesis of findings from 38 studies on group-based applications of mastery learning strategies are presented. Meta-analytic procedures were used to combine the results of the studies and to calculate overall estimates of the effects of group-based applications. Results show that such applications yield consistently positive effects on both…

A strategy called "jigsawing" is described for promoting group work, while ensuring that individual needs of pupils with severe learning difficulties are met. A group activity is broken down into smaller components and each child or group is assigned tasks toward achievement of the overall activity aims. (PB)

A successful experiment in the teaching and learning of expository writing at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is described that has been used at both the secondary and graduate levels as well as in regular college composition courses. The approach includes mastery learning, informal atmosphere, product orientation, and development of cooperative…

Mastery learning is a group-based, teacher-paced instructional strategy. Because it is also committed to criterion-referenced evaluation and to a strong emphasis on feedback and correctives throughout the learning experience, it is often confused with competency-based education, individualized instruction, and related innovations. Mastery learning…

Reports on attempts to find alternative methods of group instruction. Discusses the use of mastery learning techniques and the need to improve the students' learning processes, the curriculum and instructional materials, and the home environmental support of the students' school learning. (CMG)

A group-based, teacher-paced mastery learning format was used to instruct students in two sections of an undergraduate course on teaching mainstreamed handicapped children. Students in these sections displayed greater achievement and higher motivation, measured by their number of absences, than did students taught the course by more conventional…

The "class trap" is defined as the problems which can arise when all students in the class are required to progress at the same rate. To illustrate this concept, a case study is presented of arithmetic instruction in a single class, then strategies to avoid the trap are outlined. (SJL)