Mastery learning effects are smaller in science than in mathematics, social studies, and language arts, contrary to theory, partly due to grade-level confounding¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 1985 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Evidence quality · No study behind this claim is a peer-reviewed article with a DOI: it rests on an ERIC document (a report, conference paper or thesis). It is kept because a design page cites it; treat it as a lead to check, not an established finding.

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Science applications averaged an effect size of .49 while mathematics, social studies, and language arts ranged from .72 to .77, with statistically significant subject-area differences and a significant subject-by-grade interaction. → Guskey 1985

Evidence¶

Guskey 1985¶

Guskey, Thomas R.; Gates, Sally L. (1985). A Synthesis of Research on Group-Based Mastery Learning Programs. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED262088

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r2

Moderator analysis grouping studies by subject area in the meta-analysis; the printed effect size of .49 for science versus .72 to .77 for the other subjects names each printed effect size with its value, tests showed the differences were statistically significant, and the article reports "a statistically significant test of. a subject by grade interaction."

"Applications involving science produced an average effect size of .49.0owever, applications to instruction in mathematics, social studies,/ and language arts yielded more positive effect sizes rangijg. from .72 to .77."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Mastery learning effects are larger for lower-aptitude students, narrowing the spread of achievement in a class — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Group-based mastery learning programs yield positive achievement effects in every included study, but effect sizes vary so widely that an average was deemed inappropriate — related
• Achievement effects of group-based mastery learning are larger for elementary students than for high school or college students — related
• Up to about 35 IE sessions moderated the decline of report card marks in language-based subjects, but IE did not affect mathematics grades — related
• IE participation correlated with improved Mathematics Computation NCE scores but lower Reading and Mathematics Concepts NCE scores on city-wide tests — related
• Teachers account for large effects on student growth: effect sizes of .77–.88 in reading and .72–.85 in mathematics across years — related