Lee Ann Jung

Response-to-Intervention and Mastery Learning: Tracing Roots and Seeking Common Ground

Abstract In this article we draw parallels between defined critical features of response-to-intervention (RTI) and the mastery learning approach described in the general education literature by Benjamin S. Bloom. We posit that these two processes include many common elements but that each incorporates unique elements that could potentially complement and strengthen the other. Finally, we outline the specific advantages a synthesis of these two processes offer both special educators and general educators in their efforts to enhance the effectiveness of instructional programs for all students.

Standards-Based Grading and Reporting: A Model for Special Education.

report cards and grades is to give families information on their children’s progress in school. Families need to know their children’s strengths and deficiencies, and interventions that can be undertaken at home to promote success. Recognizing the need for meaningful progress reporting, many schools have begun implementing “standardsbased” grading and reporting practices (Guskey, 2001). Rather than reduce information on student learning to a single letter grade for each subject, standards-based grading allows teachers to report information on individual elements of learning. This level of detail is especially important to families of children with disabilities, for whom pivotal placement and intervention decisions hinge on this information. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997 and 2004 acknowledges this crucial need and requires that individualized education program (IEP) teams plan and document how progress will be monitored and communicated for students with disabilities (20 U.S.C. § 1414(d) (1) (A)). Despite this legal provision and widespread agreement on its importance, evidence indicates less compliance with progress monitoring than with any other IEP component (Etscheidt, 2006).

GRADES That Mean Something: Kentucky Develops Standards-Based Report Cards

A group of teachers, school leaders, and education researchers create report cards that link course grades to student progress on mastering state standards.