The Importance of Mastery-Based Learning

actions more effectively and efficiently, become more self-aware, and self-assess their current status and progress (Hammond, 2015; Marzano, 2010, 2017; Osher et al., 2018). When students apply metacognitive strategies, they become better learners in that they can provide executive control over their thoughts and actions much more effectively. In fact, well-developed metacognition gives learners tools to adapt their learning strategies to the situation, discipline, or learning task (Conley & French, 2013), and ongoing metacognitive processes help students develop neural connections necessary to learn from errors, enabling them to design their own learning methodology and evolve their strategies to meet a variety of learning challenges (Marcovitch & Zelazo, 2009).

The following metacognitive skills can support students as they reach deeper learning outcomes (Kaplan, Silver, Lavaque-Mantry, & Meizlish, 2013; Norford & Marzano, 2016; Tanner, 2012).

• “Staying focused when answers and solutions are not immediately apparent” (Norford & Marzano, 2016, p. 5) • “Pushing the limits of one’s knowledge and skills” (Norford & Marzano, 2016, p. 6) • “Generating and pursuing one’s own standards of excellence” (Norford &

Marzano, 2016, p. 6) • “Seeking incremental steps” (Norford & Marzano, 2016, p. 6) • Seeking clarity and accuracy (Norford & Marzano, 2016) • Resisting impulses (Norford & Marzano, 2016) • Self-questioning • Active listening • Reflecting and meditating • Being aware of one’s own strengths and weaknesses • Thinking aloud • Planning ahead

As necessary as these skills are for quality of life, we see them rarely, if ever, taught and practiced as skills that are just as or even more important than content standards. However, metacognitive skills must be given the commitment and focused attention to ensure every student has the time and resources to master them. Teachers should define metacognition, talk about metacognitive skills with learners and explain why developing the skills is important for school and for life. These skills provide yet another example of how mastery-based learning should align with

trauma-responsive schooling and culturally responsive teaching in a healing- and resilience-centered educational setting—these skills are critical to nurturing healing and enhancing resilience.

For example, the metacognitive skill staying focused when answers and solutions are not immediately apparent (Norford & Marzano, 2016, p. 5) is one that many students struggle to master in school. Often, students are eager to rush through a project or an assignment to finish rather than understand how a specific task is intended to deepen knowledge and understanding. Students are typically more interested in grades, compliance, and work completion as opposed to in-depth learning. Thus, helping students understand and consciously practice staying focused when answers and solutions are not immediately apparent will help them in later academic years, as well as in their lives outside school. Likewise, reflecting and meditating are powerful strategies that are especially pertinent and necessary in trauma-responsive schooling to help regulate emotions and soothe the human stress response so that a person can train their mind to remain calm, focused, and in the best possible place to enhance cognition and learning.

Just as mastery-based-learning schools address academic and cognitive skills directly, they also hold students to mastery in terms of their metacognitive skills. Teachers can accomplish this by using direct instruction and being mindful of grade level. For example, elementary school teachers can instruct and reinforce some metacognitive skills like planning ahead and thinking aloud. Others, like generating and pursuing one’s own standards of excellence, are better left for direct instruction at higher grade levels. Yet other metacognitive skills, such as resisting impulses and reflecting and meditating should be learned, practiced, reinforced, and assessed across all grade levels.

In analyzing a proficiency scale for metacognition, consider the grades 5–12 measurement topic Reflection (figure 3.4). In this example, analyze is usually perceived as higher-order cognition as related to consider or reflect, the learning goals at level 3.

4.0 The student will: • Analyze the positive effect on his or her reflection when he or she participates and the negative effect on his or her learning when he or she does not. • Reflect while doing a task so that he or she can make adjustments to thinking processes along the way. This is called reflection in action. 3.5 In addition to score 3.0 performance, partial success at score 4.0 content

continued