Mastery Learning for Children

OVERVIEW

Mastery Learning is a teaching method that encourages mastery of the material using a group-paced approach in order to improve reading achievement. An evaluation of the Mastery Learning curriculum with first-grade students found that it improved reading achievement. However, there were different patterns of improvement for boys and girls, with high-achieving girls benefiting more than low-achieving girls, and low-achieving boys benefiting more than high-achieving boys. 

 

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

 

Target population: Elementary school students

Mastery learning is a general concept which can be applied in many programs; this is one of many programs that are based on mastery learning principles. The program targets learning problems and aims to increase reading achievement. The program consists of a strengthened reading curriculum for the entire classm and uses a group-paced approach to mastery, meaning that the class does not move onto the next learning unit until at least 80 percent of the students achieve 80 to 85 percent of the learning objectives for the previous unit.

 

EVALUATION OF PROGRAM

 

Evaluated population: 575 first-grade children from five urban areas of Baltimore.

 

Approach: Three to four elementary schools were selected in each of 5 urban areas of Baltimore.  The schools were randomly assigned to the Mastery Learning curriculum, The Good Behavior Game comparison condition, or the control group which received the school’s normal curriculum.  In each intervention school, one classroom was randomly assigned to the treatment condition, and one served as a within-school control classroom. Children’s concentration problems, aggressive and shy behavior, depressive symptoms, and academic achievement were assessed in the fall and spring of the first-grade year.

 

Results: Positive impacts were found for reading achievement for both male and female students. However, high-achieving girls improved more than low-achieving girls, while low-achieving boys improved more than high-achieving boys. At pre-test depressed children had lower achievement than non-depressed students, but for those depressed students in the Mastery Learning classrooms, achievement at post-test was similar to non-depressed students.

 

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

References

Kellam, S.G., & Rebok, G.W. (1992). Building developmental and etiological theory through epidemiologically based preventive intervention trials. In McCord, J., & Tremblay, R.E. (Eds.), Preventing antisocial behavior: Interventions from birth through adolescence (pp.162-195). New York: The Guilford Press.

 

 

KEYWORDS: Children (3-11), Elementary, Males and Females (Co-ed), Urban, School-based, Reading/Literacy

 

Program information last updated 11/2/10

 

 

 

 

		© Child Trends 2004