Standards and Mastery Learning: Aligning Teaching and Assessment So All Children Can Learn

"I am quite enthusiastic about this book. As far as I know, no one has brought the perspective of mastery learning to the considerable dialogue about standards even though the connection is an obvious one. These authors clearly know mastery learning and will add greatly to the standards movement."
Robert Marzano, Adjunct Associate Professor
Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI

"The book makes a distinct contribution to the field. The integration of standards and mastery learning is important if standards, once established, are to be achieved by large numbers of students. I think it is timely, well organized, contains real-life examples, and is well written."
Lorin Anderson, Carolina Distinguished Professor of Education
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

"This is one of the best books I have read on this topic. I can′t wait for it to be published so that I can give copies to each of the teachers at my school."
RoseAnne Vojtek, Principal
Ivy Drive Elementary School, Bristol, CT

How to really mean it when we say, "all children can learn!"

The adage that practice, or rather the right kind of practice, makes perfect is quite apparent in this new definitive book by J. Ronald Gentile and James P. Lalley, describing the concept of mastery learning in the classroom. Educators can instruct all students, regardless of their individual scholastic aptitudes, using the principles and philosophies of mastery learning. The key to this process is reinforcing and expanding initial learning through additional practice and higher-level exercises, enabling all students to reach high standards.

Other key elements of this practical resource include:

• Usable ideas for educators and administrators on how to implement mastery learning in math, science, social studies, language arts, and other subject areas
• How to achieve mastery learning from a theoretical perspective
• How to assess effectiveness in achieving high standards
• Research evidence, details, features, and examples of good programs and lessons

The cure for a student′s helplessness is competence, which increases both the feeling of self-efficacy, and the ability to achieve new learnings. Standards and Mastery Learning is the ideal book to enable educators to help students attain these goals. It examines national and state standards and shows how to attain them through mastery learning.

 

 

J. Ronald Gentile is a graduate of Penn State University (B.S., 1963, and M.S., 1964, in Psychology; and Ph.D., in 1967, in Educational Psychology) and has been teaching educational psychology at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, since 1969. Among his more than threescore publica­tions are the following continuing research interests: memory by fast versus slow learners; mastery learn­ ing, standards, and grading policies; and expanding the instructional repertoire. For Dr. Gentile and his wife, Dr. Kay Johnson-Gentile (“The Genteels”), expanding the instructional repertoire has included teaching teachers how to integrate music into the elementary school curriculum. In 1998, Dr. Gentile was promoted to the rank of SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor.

James P. Lalley is an Assistant Professor of Education at D’Youville College in Buffalo, New York. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo (B.A., 1984, in History; and M.A., 1995, and Ph.D., 1997, in Educational Psychology). He has taught at the State University of New York, College at Buffalo and Canisius College. His previous publica­tions have been in the areas of educational technology and child development. In addition to mastery learning, his profes­sional interests include how affective factors influence motivation and learning, methods of teaching, and children at risk.