Competency-based education (CBE) is widely viewed as an innovative alternative to traditional higher education, yet most programs serve only a narrow slice of the postsecondary population. Few are intended for adults who need to boost basic skills in order to succeed in college coursework. However, if designed with the needs of a broader range of…

Describes a self-paced mastery learning process applied to an introductory sociology course at Lambton College (Sarnia, Ontario) in an attempt to correct traditional instructional and grading "malpractices." Describes course goals and organization, behavioral objectives, grading contracts, teaching techniques, student evaluation and feedback, and…

Interviews with 40 instructors who had attended mastery learning workshops were conducted by the Chicago City Colleges to determine whether and why the instructors had modified and/or discontinued the mastery learning strategies and to correlate the degree of mastery learning implementation with teacher characteristics and attitudes. The…

The proceedings of the First Mastery Learning Conference begins with Rocco Caponigri's introduction and Oscar E. Shabat's discussion of the importance of mastery learning to community colleges as they attempt to educate large numbers of underprepared students. Next, Benjamin S. Bloom examines the shifting emphasis in education research from…

Student attrition in community colleges has high financial costs for the institutions and high psychological costs for both students and instructors. In order to deal with attrition, it is necessary to examine the sort of interventions which motivate students to stay in classes, rather than accepting attrition as an inevitability. A major factor…

In 1993, the Oregon Legislature funded six curriculum development projects to design frameworks for integrating academic content with technical skills, work behaviors, sample teaching activities, and assessment strategies appropriate to the state's Certificates of Advanced Mastery (CAMs). This report describes results for the six projects as of…

Faculty members are the most important resource for attaining high student achievement and retention rates. At the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), interviews with instructors who achieved over 90% retention for the Spring 1979 semester revealed that their courses were well-structured, used materials related to students' needs, and did not rely…

The grading policy at South Oklahoma City Junior College (SOCJC) allows a student to master a course by doing a specified amount of work to a pre-determined standard (80% mastery). When this is accomplished, the student receives an "M" indicating mastery; otherwise, nothing appears on the official record. No A, B, C, grades are awarded. This…