Mastery Learning that Works!
Feb 1st, 2009 by Nick
The title is yanked directly from this video
I’m intrigued.
3 Responses to “Mastery Learning that Works!”
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They record their lessons, ask kids to watch them in advance, and do homework help in class.
No more, no less effective than old-timers asking kids to read the text in advance.
New approach = new enthusiasm from the teachers. And this enthusiasm probably accounts for any effect they are seeing.
So good for them, for re-energizing themselves. But this is not The Answer.
Sorry – it was still running in the background…
Once they recorded almost everything, they let the kids work at their own pace. Kids complete assignments, get help in class, take tests when they are ready, retake tests until they got an 85 (this is the piece that sounds like mastery), make up homework whenever…
I do much of this. With no podcasts. (Now they are boasting about how this makes it possible to differentiate. They judge each kid, and decide how high the score must be based on their expectations. Me, I offer kids two tracks of homework, easy or hard, with a large overlap, and the kid themself chooses which track to work on, or to weave back and forth.)
I still think they are mostly seeing a “teacher-enthusiasm effect”
Jonathan, I agree with you in that this isn’t a very magical solution. I think there’s a motivation problem hidden in all of this that is obscured by the fact that these guys teach high school level/AP chemistry. Even in a college setting I think a “work at your own pace” framework would fall short of the output of a group centered course.
However, in the same way it’s nice to be able to print off the graphing activity I spent hours making last year, it’d be great for kids to be able to pull up a quick lesson on, say, point-slope form. I’ve been finding youtube to be pretty helpful when I want some background or a quick explanation for teaching content I haven’t seen since high school.
I’m not down with assigning different grades based on my perception of their ability. Seems like the right way to get around this would be to offer a different means of assessment like an interview or demonstration with questioning, but letting kids by who are scoring at varying levels just lowers the bar for some kids instead of finding a way to maintain it.