The monograph summarizes characteristics of effective instruction of mildly handicapped and non-handicapped students by focusing on two literature areas: Instructional Psychology and Models of School Learning. The review on instructional psychology covers the following areas: definitions of instruction, principles of learning, models of the teaching-learning process (J. Lembo and M. Dembo), theories of instruction (the Gagne Briggs theory, mastery learning theory, prescriptive theory, R. Case's theory, and E.Z. Rothkopf's theory), and instructional stages. The Models of School Learning discussion stresses how instructional effectiveness is viewed in each of the following six models of school learning: John Carrol's model of school learning, Benjamin Bloom's mastery learning model, A. Harnischfeger and D. Wiley's model, the Model of Classroom Processes used in the Instructional Dimensions Study, the Model of Classroom Instruction of the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study, and N.L. Karweit's Dynamic Model of Classroom Learning. Similarities between the models include: emphasis on learning as a complex amalgamation of factors and emphasis on the role of time. Differences include focusing on different levels (the individual student, the classroom, or both) of instruction and different emphases on the relationship of critical variables of instruction. Fifty-eight references are appended. (DB)