A new idea is catching on fast: instead of giving all students the same classroom time and grading A to F, give each the time and the teaching technique he or she needs to master the subject. (LBH)

Most educational advances are timid improvements on the periphery and ignore underlying shifts in national need. This article discusses some cultural shifts and speculates about design responses: corporate training, resiliency and life-long skills improvement, the shift from learning as work to learning as entertainment, and the shift from mastery…

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)

During the past five years, East Islip (New York) School District has developed an outcome-based curriculum and instructional format focusing on student mastery of thinking skills. Connecting mastery learning with thinking skills provides a framework allowing students to make their own connections between instructional fragments, classroom…

College students randomly assigned to mastery goal (n=26) or competitive goal (n=25) situations read a passage and took a free-recall test. The mastery situation resulted in higher achievement and greater interest, and there was no significant difference between groups in learning strategies. (SLD)

Discusses the effects of mastery learning and criterion-referenced grading schemes on student memory and motivation to succeed. Indicates that such programs are effective in college level developmental education programs. Provides suggestions for establishing criterion-referenced grading schemes, including several variants of mastery grading…

The Morningside Academy in Seattle, Washington, is a remedial program for children and youth with learning problems. Working with job preparation agencies and focusing on fluency-building techniques with real-world applications, the program improves basic skills an average of two grade levels every five weeks. (SK)

Evaluated effects of mixed-age and same-age classrooms on dimensions of mastery during play for young children developing normally and for disabled children. Found that children's developmental maturation was related to the sophistication of their play mastery for children without disabilities in both settings and for children with disabilities in…

This paper reviews the research bases for components of the resource/consulting teacher (R/CT) model, including use of curriculum based assessment, direct and data-based instruction, criterion-referenced mastery learning, stages of learning development, applied behavior analysis, and school consultation. (Author/DB)

Two multiple-examination system, in which the best test score or the last test score counted toward the final grade were compared with a conventional testing and grading system for 271 undergraduates. The type of examination system generated no significant effect on a cumulative final, but multiple examinations appeared to result in poorer unit…

Outcome-based education, a labor-intensive process driven by mastery learning, is an unsuitable model for training future teachers. Education professors are too overworked to provide individualized instruction. Although OBE theoretically balances remediation and enrichment, fast learners often "tread water," with little incentive to work…

Examined the effects of cooperative-mastery learning (CML) on student's questioning behavior, creativity, and achievement. Comparisons of controls and students trained to generate questions under CML, mastery learning, and cooperative learning (CL) indicated that CML and ML students scored higher on measures of higher order questioning skills and…

The aims of the study were to test the linkages between achievement goals to task performance, as mediated by state anxiety arousal. Performance expectancy was also examined as antecedents of achievement goals. A presentation task in a computer practice class was used as achievement task. Fifty-three undergraduates (37 females and 16 males) were…

The current study examined the fit of a 2 x 2 achievement goal model among a diverse sample of nearly 700 10th-grade students, distinguishing between both mastery and performance goals and approach and avoidance orientations. Additionally, relationships between achievement goals and GPA and intrinsic value of school were examined, and adolescents'…

This case study of a restructured high school in Baltimore, Maryland, demonstrates an approach to the education of gifted and talented students utilizing principles of the Coalition for Essential Schools, an education reform movement headed by Ted Sizer. The case study first examines Coalition principles, which call for a commitment to…