In response to McLean (2021), Laufer (2021) makes three claims which are either not supported by research or are based on studies with important limitations. First is that a vocabulary size, instead of a level, can be used to match learners with lexically appropriate materials despite test creators and research not supporting this. Second is that…

Virtual Reading Coach assesses student reading abilities with MindPlay's Universal Screener and automatically develops a unique, differentiated syllabus of instruction and mastery-based activities for every student, thus improving their reading fluency. This report includes its logic model, foundational literature review, and summaries of…

In the late 1980s Batia Laufer worked with teachers who believed that to understand a text it was enough to understand 80% of the text's word tokens. In response, Laufer set out to calculate the minimal text coverage, i.e., percentage of running words in a text the reader should understand to comprehend it reasonably well. In 1992, she explored…

Purpose: Scholars who advocate for equity-oriented educational practices have argued that the accountability era in the USA, now in place for two decades, has failed in its intended goal to improve student performance for traditionally marginalized student populations. This study aims to use a sociocultural lens to trace how a century-old…

Authors of skills management systems may have misinterpreted and misapplied Benjamin Bloom's theory of mastery learning in developing their systems for teaching reading. Skills management procedures are inconsistent with Bloom's theory in the areas of management, learning tasks, skills hierarchy, and instructional methods. In addition, the four…

The paper describes the theoretical background, implementation and preliminary results of the Chicago Mastery Learning/Learning Strategies reading program for upper elementary school students. Reading research and learning strategies research are pulled together to support the argument that the teaching of diverse learning strategies can improve…

The Chicago Mastery Learning Reading Program (CMLRP) discussed in this report is a method of instruction based on the mastery learning model developed by University of Chicago professor Benjamin Bloom. The report describes the procedures and results of an evaluation of the program's effects on reading achievement, information related to the…

Evaluates the report of the Commission on Reading, "Becoming a Nation of Readers," which focuses on giving attention to classroom teaching, testing, and teacher education. It gives recommendations for changes in the way reading is taught and includes the list of 17 recommmendations from the report. (MD)

Chicago's mastery learning program takes into account the complexities of reading and the realities of urban classrooms. Its designers say that if a program does not lead to success, it is not a mastery learning program. (Author/JM)

A mastery learning program called MTARSH (Multisensory Teaching Approach for Reading, Spelling, and Handwriting) was used with 282 remedial students and 144 nonremedial students in grades 1-6. Subsequent California Achievement Test scores in reading and spelling improved over baseline scores for students in both remedial and nonremedial classes.…

The development of a model for criterion-referenced mastery reading comprehension tests for university courses in English as a Second Language (ESL) is designed. In the process of developing this model, two major issues were addressed: clarification of the concept of "criteria" within criterion-referenced testing and choice of the…

A three-year study evaluated the cognitive and affective effect of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on adult basic education (ABE) students at the Great Neck Adult Learning Centers. The system was used by learning laboratory students in 1977 and by both learning laboratory and classroom students from 1977-1979. The 100 students enrolled from…