Implementing Mastery Learning
- Thomas R. Guskey - University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
The definitive classic—updated for our times.
After 50 years, Benjamin Bloom’s revolutionary work on mastery learning is more relevant than ever. One of the most widely researched and proven-effective education methodologies in existence, it provides a direct challenge to the traditional, deterministic, time-based approaches to teaching and learning that have perpetuated inequities for generations of children.
Mastery learning is the progenitor of many of today’s most promising teaching methods, including competency-based learning, personalized instruction, and differentiated instruction. It helped to elevate the importance and use of formative assessment as a powerful instructional practice. This timely new edition of the foremost practical guide includes:
- Recent applications of the principles of mastery learning to distance, hybrid, and blended learning environments
- Updates including evidence from recent implementation efforts, the results of the most current research on mastery learning and its implications for practice
- Step-by-step guidance on implementation across grade levels and subject areas
- Supplemental, on-line chapters that unpack the development of effective formative assessments and connections between RTI and mastery learning
Written by one of the most highly regarded scholar/practitioners in the field and the leading interpreter of Bloom’s work, this updated guidebook is essential reading for teachers, school leaders, professional learning communities, and anyone who believes that all students can learn well, achieve success, and become confident learners.
Free resources
Evaluating Mastery Learning
To determine if implementing mastery learning has led to meaningful change and positive improvements requires some form of evaluation. We need to verify whether or not intended outcomes were achieved and also if there were positive or negative unintended consequences that resulted from implementation. This resource includes a discussion on three types of data you can collect to evaluate mastery learning.
Clarify Your Learning Goals
The first task in implementing mastery learning is to clearly articulate what we want students to learn and be able to do at the end of each learning unit. In other words, we need to begin with the end in mind by clarifying our learning goals. This resource will support you to begin this work and includes a practical example and a discussion of how implement learning goals in the context of mastery learning.
The "Why" of Mastery Learning
As educators, our task is find ways to respond to students’ learning problems so that learning outcomes become much less predictable. Although there are limitations to what we are able to accomplish, we should be trying to defy prediction. We should be searching for ways to intervene in the educational process in order to guarantee a higher quality of learning for all students. Mastery Learning can help us accomplish this.
An Introduction to Mastery Learning
To truly appreciate the importance of mastery learning, you need to understand the context in which Benjamin Bloom developed the idea and the boldness of what he proposed. Bloom not only challenged long-held notions about the development of talent in young people and the influence of educators; he proved himself a courageous and steadfast champion of equity and social justice.
Differentiate Instruction Through Mastery Learning
This webinar explores the use of mastery learning instructional strategies to personalize and differentiate instruction for diverse students.
Sample Materials & Chapters
Chapter 1. The "Why" of Mastery Learning
Chapter 2. The History and Development of Mastery Learning