Many states are moving away from approaches that base student advancement on credits and "seat time" toward competency-based learning approaches that provide schools with the flexibility to link a student's advancement to mastery of content. Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands, in partnership with the Northeast…

Low levels of student success in introductory college math courses are rampant. There are several reasons for low pass rates in these courses, with the most serious issue being lack of concept mastery. To aid students in concept mastery, adaptive learning systems were created. These systems adapt instruction for each student and create an…

The paper describes the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) used in an allied health course in human physiology at the University of Texas. Distinguishing features of the PSI system of individualizing courses are mastery learning, self-pacing, and immediate feedback, with the instructor as class manager rather than lecturer. (MF)

An experiment in an introductory psychology course investigated whether gains in final exam performance, similar to those reported in the personalized system of instruction (PSI) literature, could be obtained by substituting a computer for human proctors. The course was divided into two sections, with a sample of 17 students in section 1 matched…

This paper describes the development and implementation of an individualized instruction-evaluation system used in a third-quarter chemistry course at Cuyahoga Community College (Ohio). The system included: (1) 20 performance objectives covering the three modules in the course; (2) an instructional sequence for each objective composed of a variety…

The possible difference in the performance on a mid-term and final exam between students taking a quasi-individualized mastery method of instruction and students having traditional lecture-discussion instruction was studied. A second issue examined was the difference between the proportion of students expressing a preference for one method of…

Results of a study of 117 eighth-grade math students suggest: mastery-based methods were more effective than non-mastery methods in improving lesson achievement; computer-based and traditional delivery systems are of greatest value when complementing each other; and student attitudes were only nominally affected by various treatments. (IAH)

This doctoral thesis analyzes the effect of mastery and nonmastery teaching procedures upon student achievement and attitudes in an introductory college-geography course. Mastery learning is the teaching strategy where each segment of materials must be mastered before instruction can begin on the next segment. A classroom lecture-discussion method…

The 2008 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, a joint conference with the Michigan World Language Association, focused on learning about the diverse backgrounds and needs of today's students and discovering new ways to help them succeed in reaching the goal of language proficiency. A wide variety of workshops and…

Examines the mastery learning model as proposed by Carroll and Bloom in the context of science instruction, addressing issues related to classroom application. Discusses expected results of implementing mastery learning and its impact on students and teachers, recognizing the additional burden on teacher time required by mastery learning…