CLARK: OBE NO, MASTERY LEARNING YES

The Cape Girardeau School District will embrace new teaching proficiency standards, but it likely won't be the contentious Outcomes Based Education, Superintendent Dr. Neyland Clark says.

"We're not looking at OBE as a teaching method," he said. "We are, however, looking at moving toward Mastery Learning as a way to establish a proficiency standard that all students can meet."

Mastery Learning seems linked to OBE, because it stresses teaching techniques that involve peer groups.

But Clark said the differences in the methods are vast.

OBE critics complain that self-motivated, highly competitive students are forced to lower their standards to learn at the same pace as slower students.

In addition, with OBE feelings and politically correct philosophies replace striving to make good grades through standardized tests.

"I think a lot of schools are moving away from OBE due to the controversial nature of the system and because school systems, like ours, want to provide for checks and balances," Clark said.

With Mastery Learning, Clark said students have the opportunity to prove their mastery of a subject at various phases.

"After students pass a particular unit, they go on to an enrichment-type program," Clark said.

Those who fail the unit are retaught rather than moved to the next level.

Under this program, students who fail to learn the unit don't hold back those who master it.

OBE has been called a "dummy down" system that produces politically correct citizens rather than competitive individuals prepared for the real world.

Instead of individual grades, students are lumped together and only earn group grades under the OBE program, because it doesn't account for student or school performance.

Clark said Mastery Learning enhances students' chances of becoming competitive by providing incentives for achievement.

There isn't a departure from the traditional grading system under Mastery Learning, and the curriculum focuses on complex, higher-level learning skills.

Another phase of OBE that worries educators is the control state and federal government would have over schools.

Clark said he has no intention of moving toward a system that would ignore the needs and wishes of the community.

"There are some things we are required to do by law," he said. "But we also must try to produce the kind of student the community wants. It's important that we make this student as competitive as possible."

University of Kentucky education professor Thomas R. Guskey outlined the differences between Outcome Based Education and Mastery Learning in a September issue of "The School Administrator" magazine.

Guskey compared traditional evaluation to evaluation through the Mastery Learning program.

In the traditional method, instruction is followed by a test of the material covered. The test determines what was learned.

The test is the end of the instruction process, and it becomes the only chance students get at understanding the material.

Guskey said only about 20 percent of the students in the class generally master a unit under the traditional method.

However, he said, with the Mastery Learning program 80 percent of students come to fully comprehend the material.

Mastery Learning involves feedback and correctives. If the student makes a mistake, the instructor points it out, then explains or corrects the mistake.

Rather than wait until the end of a unit to test students on the material, Mastery Learning stresses constant assessment, feedback and correction.

Another difference between the two programs is content.

OBE critics say the material continually is made easier to achieve outcomes that make it appear students are achieving excellence.

Clark said it is more important for schools to seek new ways to educate students in an increasingly competitive world. After studying the top 25 high school graduates in the nation, he is convinced that something like Master Learning is needed.

"They all come from rigid academic programs that also allow a kid to expand," Clark said. "There has to be room for the individual to go out and do projects that force him to think and do research on his own."