Assessing to Mastery

Mastery means that learners have developed and can demonstrate an explicit set of skills and knowledge. Coined by Benjamin Bloom in 1968, Learning for Mastery was soon rebranded Mastery Learning (Bloom, 1971). Bloom’s original intent was to build expertise through feedback and correction; similar to the idea of assessment for learning. But, over time, mastery has morphed into demonstrations of achievement of learning targets through rigorous and uniform testing.

Backtracking to its original intent, it becomes clear that assessment is at the heart of mastery. With so many ways to learn and so much to learn, it is virtually impossible to teach every student every thing. Knowing what students know and can do in the present and where they are headed next, is the first step towards educational success. This is achieved through ongoing formative assessment.

The Common Core provides a foundation in literacy and numeracy, but today’s learners must be prepared to meet the challenges of the 21^st century. Students must be engaged in meaningful learning that they can adapt to their own capabilities. Edward Deci (1996) found that carrots and sticks only motivate in the short term. Carol Dweck (2006) explained that real learning is related to a growth mindset. This mindset is a direct result of personal mastery. And this personal mastery comes from continuous growth built on feedback and correction that is descriptive and comprehensible, specific to task and process, guides next steps, and monitors self-regulation.

Mastery is more than finding the one right answer based on formulas and rules. Large scale standards lead to local targets that lead to assessments of day by day progress. It is formative assessment that supports this growth and guides this process of continuous improvement.

Bloom, B. S. (1968). Learning for mastery. Evaluation Comment, 1(2), 1–12. 
Bloom, B. S. (1971). Mastery learning. In J. H. Block (Ed.), Mastery learning: Theory and practice (pp. 47–63). New York:
     Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 
Deci, E. (1996). Why we do what we do: Understanding self-motivation. Penguin Books. 
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine Books