DOCUNENT RESUME

Educational institutions have at least two major functions: education and certification of competency. This paper examines the educational strengths and limitations of the mastery learning instruction model with respect to fulfilling these functions. The components of the mastery model are contrasted with components of other instructional models, and their relative advantages and disadvantages discussed in the nine sections of the paper. Components of the mastery model are identified as: (1) formal specification of a comprehensive set of cognitive objectives; (2) instruction; (3) frequent formative diagnostic evaluation; (4) corrective or remedial instruction measures to remedy learning deficiencies identified in formative evaluation; and (5) criterion referenced summative evaluation. The advantage of mastery instruction is primarily its effectiveness for teaching basic skills an