SuccessMaker Mastery

 The Successmaker theory of mastery learning asserts that students achieve greater
results when they:

1. Spend time on the content that is deemed more important by jurisdictional
curriculum standards and testing objectives;

2. Focus their efforts on concepts and skills organized into homogeneous
strands (i.e., sub-content areas, one for fractions, one for word problems,
and so forth) and move fluidly between the strands as appropriate;

3. Are placed at an appropriate level to begin the courseware, based on their
performance at an initial sequence of sessions;

4. Can move forward at their own pace when their performance in a particular
area satisfies certain criteria that take into account the fact that the learning
process is dynamic;

5. Receive tutoring intervention automatically, returning to prerequisite content
when the pattern of responses indicates the student is having difficulty
performing; and ;

6.  Are automatically assisted to retain learning. The algorithms adjust the
learning sequence for each student based on the student’s individual pattern
of response to the instruction. Thus, while based on a common curriculum,
the sequence of instruction for each student is rich and unique. Moreover,
the instructional strategies and learning sequences within a course depend
on the specific content area.

SuccessMaker was developed using specific mathematical models based on
this theory of mastery learning, consisting of six main components:

1) content coverage and dynamic ordering of concepts
2) distributed presentation of instruction based on strands
3) initial adaptive placement
4) learning models for judging mastery
5) retention models for assigning review
6) decisions on tutorial intervention.

Algorithms adjust the learning sequence for each student based on the
student’s individual pattern of response to the instruction. Thus, while
based on a common curriculum, the sequence of instruction for each
student is rich and unique. Moreover, the instructional strategies and
learning sequences within a course depend on the specific content area.