The Outcome-Based Instructional Systems approach is a comprehensive design for teaching and learning and instructional management that has its roots in the mastery learning and competency-based education movements of the early 1970s and has been implemented in hundreds of schools and districts across the country. The first part of this brief…

A survey of relevant research strongly suggests that the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) offers considerable potential for community college instruction. It has five main features: students move at their own rates of speed, utilize written study guides, demonstrate mastery of each unit before continuing, meet with proctors for periodic…

This paper describes individualized learning, a form of individualized instruction that emphasizes students' self-paced learning progress within a tutorial teaching structure, as it was used in a freshman composition program. The teachers first determined the composition skills that their students should have acquired upon completion of the three…

Mastery criterion manipulation may produce dramatic behavioral effects. Results of a study investigating three undergraduate classes indicate that the 90 percent criterion class was inferior to both the 80 percent and the varied 60-90 percent criterion class on several measures, including degree of accuracy and final grade. (BJG)

The purpose of this study was to provide New Orleans public school administrators and teachers with the information and tools needed to design a systems-based mastery learning (ML) approach to secondary social studies teaching and learning. The following information and tools are provided in this report. There is an introduction to the basic…

This handbook describes a college level self-pacing mastery learning corrective and developmental reading program in the areas of study skills, vocabulary, comprehension, reading in the content areas, critical reading, and rate flexibility. Each learning module contains a program of learning experiences, performance competencies, a topic, a…

Intended for use by those who have direct responsibility for providing leadership in the area of English, this monograph provides a process for improving the English curriculum in a way that is true to the intellectual and emotional needs of students while meeting society's expectations for a practical curriculum. The monograph begins with a…

A total of 51 students participated in a study to determine the effect of a behaviorally oriented individualized instruction program on the objective grammar proficiency of academically deficient college freshmen. From a group of special students, 15 were randomly selected for the individualized instruction while 17 were assigned to sections of…

This paper discusses the design of a physical education curriculum to be used in advanced secondary physical education programs and in university basic instructional programs; the design is based on the premise of mastery learning and employs programed instructional techniques. The effective implementation of a mastery learning model necessitates…

This study investigated the validity of the research methodology which sought to compare methods of instruction through the application of univariate statistical procedures, to contribute to the development of the theoretical position which contended that students of different abilities, needs, preferences, and attitudes should be differentially…

This study used a self-instructional geography unit in 20 seventh-grade classes to assess the effects of a mastery learning procedure and aptitude upon learning, retention and time spent on studying the unit. It was found that differences between aptitude levels were increased rather than diminished when self-instructional materials were used.…

An investigation of the effectiveness of a mathematics course for preservice elementary teachers showed that the use of mastery learning principles in a traditional classroom setting can be effective. (SD)

An approach for developing competencies in media with a student centered, multimedia approach using modular learning units is described. (Author)

Discusses factors that must be considered before deciding on a reading skills management system. (MKM)

Describes a range of alternative organizational patterns which are possible in mixed ability situations and attempts to make explicit their underlying values and assumptions. (Author/RK)