In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, K-12 schools are under immense pressure to meet the diverse needs of students. But policies and practices have not evolved quickly enough to meet those needs -- and as a result, the system continues to fail far too many young people. In "Levers of Change: How State Policies Support District…

Describes a general chemistry program involving small groups of students working together toward the mastery of performance objectives. Explains the administrative procedure for the program and provides an evaluation in terms of professor time, student attitude, and student achievement. (GS)

Competency-based educational programs are here to stay. Here the author describes the program underway in his school system. (Editor/RK)

Research evidence shows that mastery learning is much more effective than conventional methods; however, it is not yet known whether it works equally well for all kinds of learning and for all kinds of students. (Author/JM)

Project CIVTEC was conducted through the Columbia, South Carolina State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education in cooperation with the National Science Foundation and has developed an individualized instructional approach, based on mastery learning, for eleven core curriculum courses in Civil Engineering Technology. The basic format for…

This paper describes a field study of the "Personalized System of Instruction" (PSI) as it was used in an undergraduate communications research course. On the basis of statistics from two years of the program's implementation and from student responses after completing the course, the study draws five conclusions. (1) Most students did…

These proceedings contain three reports of improvement programs designed to help students to succeed in large urban school systems. In the first report, the "Achievement Goals Program" (AGP) is described as a highly structured, objective based instructional program in reading and mathematics carried out for the purpose of reducing racial…

One hundred twenty-five students found to have few areas of skill mastery were selected to form the Fresh Start Minischool (FSMS). The Fresh Start approach was characterized by individualized instruction in four academic areas (Social Studies, English, Mathematics, and Science). Students proceeded at their own pace and acquired skills according to…

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…

The eight papers in this compendium were commissioned from faculty and staff members to provide a research and theoretical base for selected components of a University of Kentucky report on a teaching experience involving mainstreamed elementary school children. That experience was reported in "Perspectives of an Ivory Tower Realist," a monograph…

This report presents a comprehensive plan to improve teaching and learning in New York State's public and private schools. After surveying school improvement efforts since 1977, characteristics of New York education, and the state Board of Regents' recent goals review, the report states the regents' goals underlying this action plan. These…