Quiz 6 - 850 - Mastery Learning - Zimmerman et al 2008

What’s mastery learning?

Mastery learning is an instructional approach in which teachers define
clear learning objectives, assess students’ understanding frequently, and
provide additional time and targeted corrective instruction until
students demonstrate a pre-established level of proficiency before
moving on

psychometric/status logic

ranks or classifies students; emphasizes stable individual differences and norm comparison

mastery logic

tracks growth toward defined curricular objectives; assessment diagnoses what remains to be learned

RtI question

which student needs a change in intensity, intervention, or instructional target, based on adequate response?

Carroll’s 1963 Theory: most students learn at different rates because of….

• individual differences

  • 1. perseverance/grit

  • 2. aptitude/intelligence

  • 3. ability to access and understand instruction

• Experiential differences

  • 4. opportunities to learn

  • 5. quality of instruction

Carroll’s 1963 Theory: All students can learn if…

they have sufficient time

Carroll’s 1963 Theory: mastery can be defined…

mathematically as a ratio of the amount of time needed to learn divided by the time spent learning. Some children may take twice as long to reach mastery

Carroll’s 1963 Theory: learning depends on…

the relation between time needed and time actually spent learning. Time can compensate, in part, for variation in opportunity to learn and quality of instruction

Bloom’s instructional response

• Define mastery criteria for specific objectives.

• Use brief formative checks during instruction.

• Provide corrective instruction and another opportunity to demonstrate mastery.

• Offer enrichment after initial mastery.

IMPORTANT: instructional time becomes variable while the learning criterion remains explicit

Mastery Learning Cycle

1. Teach small set of objectives

2. Brief Criterion assessment (pre-specified performance standard on a discrete skill or objective, often 80% or higher in the classic model)

3. Corrective instruction

4. reassess mastery

5. enrichment or next unit

Why test? Crucial distinctions: Psychometric assessment

Primary inference: How does the student compare with a reference group?

useful metric: norm-referenced setting

instructional action: placement or classification

Why test? Crucial distinctions: criterion mastery assessment

Primary inference: Which objective has the student mastered?

useful metric: mastery criterion tied to taught content

instructional action: targeted corrective instruction

Why test? Crucial distinctions: RtI progress monitoring

primary inference: Is the student responding adequately to the intervention?

useful metric: level and slope relative to expected growth or goal line

instructional action: continue, adjust, intensify, or fade support

Curriculum-based measurement

• brief, standardized, repeated measures that sample a broad academic domain

• supports estimates of level and growth rate across time

  • useful for benchmarking, monitoring response, and evaluating changes in instructional conditions

Classic criterion mastery checks

• Closely tied to discrete objectives and recent instruction

• identifies which content or component skill needs corrective instruction

  • supports a direct teach-assess-correct-reassess loop

A strong RtI system uses both…

CBM to judge response over time, and diagnostic mastery checks to select the next instructional target

Response to intervention: mastery versus adequate response.

Mastery of a narrow objective and adequate overall response are related but distinct judgments

• mastery decision

  • Has the student met the pre-set criterion for this skill after sufficient instructional opportunity

  • objective-level

  • instruction-linked

• RtI response decision

  • Given the intervention’s intensity and duration, does the student’s level and rate of improvement support continuing, adapting, or intensifying support?

  • time-series

  • goal-referenced

An intervention may produce short-term unit master without sufficient generalization, fluency, maintenance, or cumulative growth. RtI decisions must examine those broader outcomes.

Designing a mastery-informed intervention plan

1. Define the instructional target

   • Specify a teachable skill, response from, mastery threshold, and transfer criterion

2. Establish baseline and goal

   • Use a repeated measure for level/slope plus diagnostic probes that locate the error patterns

3. Deliver and monitor

   • Teach explicitly; collect brief objective-level checks; record fidelity and opportunity to respond

4. adapt based on data

   • select correctives from the error pattern; judge broader response using trend, goal, and maintenance data