Understanding Learning Mastery Standards

This book is designed to be reviewed prior to the District training on Using Outcomes in Canvas.

It will provide the following information on the practice and uses of Learning Mastery.

  1. Standards Alignment
  2. Defining Mastery
  3. Assessing Students Through Mastery
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Prior Knowledge About Standards Alignment

  • Lessons are designed to help students reach a learning target.
  • That target should be communicated clearly to the students at the beginnig of the lesson so they can self-assess.
  • Designing a lesson typically starts with selecting the standard you are targeting.
  • Once that standard is selected, all elements of that lesson lead students toward mastering that standard.

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Defining Mastery

According to educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, Mastery Learning means students must reach an identified level of mastery in prerequisite knowledge before moving on to new information. If a student does not achieve mastery, additional support is provided to assist them in learning and reviewing the information. Students are then given another opportunity to reach mastery level. This continues until the learner accomplishes mastery, and moves on to the next lesson, skill, or standard.

Teachers typically use Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide for activities. Assessing for mastery means looking for students to display a level of competence in the targeted skill before they move on.


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  • Traditional assessments assign a grade to the student as they produce work designed to help them meet a standard.
  • Current trends in education ask all students to reach a level of mastery for each standard, not merely receive a grade.
  • Mastery can be the equivalent of a grade.
  • Mastery can be displayed in many different ways:
    • tests
    • projects
    • performances
    • writing
    • building
    • presenting
    • teaching others
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We are going to bring technology and learning mastery together using the district's learning managemet system, Canvas.

Aligning standards to assessments in Canvas will give you a fast and easy way to determine your students' level of mastery on any given lesson.


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References

ASCD (2004). Introduction: The logic of backward design. Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook.

 

DeLuca, V. W., & Lari, N. (2013). Developing students' metacognitive skills in a data-rich environment. Journal Of STEM Education: Innovations & Research, 14(1), 45-55.

 

Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956). Published by Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA. Copyright (c) 1984 by Pearson Education

 

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