The Flex Lab at Santa Fe Community College, in New Mexico, is a self-paced, computer-assisted training center that allows students to accommodate college credit courses into their schedules. The Lab offers courses in introductory computers, keyboarding, and various computer programs and emphasizes several features of the Personalized System of…

Recent years have seen a new and serious commitment to improving methods of assessing academic performance. Schools, school districts, and states are experimenting with a wide range of assessment alternatives. This paper is about this new commitment to assessment and begins with some background on standardized tests because the rationale for…

This paper analyzes mastery learning as an alternative to curriculum planning and discusses implementation of the strategy in a prekindergarten through eighth-grade school district in Red Bank, New Jersey. The paper briefly describes district schools and circumstances affecting the school board's decision to implement mastery learning; discusses…

Increasing numbers of state-mandated testing programs have resulted in the selection of norm-referenced tests (NRTs) for statewide assessment. Adaptation or customization of existing tests has become a viable solution for individual programs. Changes in test instruments have arisen from the behaviorist approach and mastery learning, minimum…

This quasi-experiment was designed to assess Robert Slavin's challenge to research on the effects of mastery learning on student achievement in algebra. Focus was on determining if there would be a difference in mathematics achievement between an experimental group (EG) of students whose initial cognitive entry skills were enhanced and who were…

Designed as a resource for persons interested in improving the quality of teaching and student learning, this book covers aspects of the teaching-learning process that can be altered with relative ease. Practical suggestions are given in chapters focusing on concepts known to have a strong influence on student learning. The chapters include: (1)…

This 723-item bibliography lists materials on teacher effectiveness research published from 1978 to early 1984. Reference to some earlier works of significance is also included. Teacher effectiveness research is here defined to include principally studies conducted in the presage-context-process-product tradition in an attempt to determine…

Weak increases in classroom cohesion for three seventh-grade classes instructed by a mastery learning technique compared to three conventionally instructed classes are demonstrated using block analysis of variance, triadic census (balance theory), and block modelling (role theory) analytic techniques on repeated-measures sociometric rating data.…

The purpose of the Fresh Start Minischool (FSMS) was to provide instruction to students entering high school with deficient mathematics and reading skills. Students worked at their own pace on sequenced learning tasks in social studies, mathematics, communication, and science. Additional program components included counseling and staff…

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…

A self-instructional approach used at Central Michigan University to teach basic broadcasting techniques to students in a basic production course is described in this paper. Separate sections discuss the following topics: (1) problems involved in attempting to provide large numbers of students with hands-on training in broadcast production; (2)…

Criterion-referenced tests were used to measure basic skills and competencies in mathematics, reading, and writing in Texas. Results reported on 433,520 students in grades 5 and 9 who took the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS) in 1980. Ninth graders were tested on competencies and proficiency levels expected to be mastered by students in…

Innovations which were incorporated into large, introductory, educational psychology lecture classes are described and compared to smaller classes that did not make use of the innovations. Four innovative pedagogical techniques are used: (1) a mastery approach, (2) formative evaluation, (3) a modified pyramid-like structure using small group…

The historical background of mastery learning is discussed and related to the use of the traditional normal curve and to the nature of curves which express more adequately the mastery learning concept. It is suggested that the mastery model calls for strategies that: inform students about course expectations; set standards of mastery in advance;…

Reports on use of a tutorial program written in STAF2 authoring language to replace human teaching in an undergraduate biology mastery learning program. Learning was assessed cognitively in terms of Bloom's Taxonomy. Students taught by the STAF2 computer program attained significantly higher scores for retention, application, and evaluation of…