A test-prep operator using Mastery Learning for six years says it requires far more teacher time and administrative courage, so established schools resist it. The approach mostly appears in new, purpose-built programs because retrofitting raises workload and parent‑management costs. The bottleneck is labor and governance, not pedagogy.
— It explains why proven instructional models don’t scale and points to AI or staffing redesign as the lever, not just teacher training.
Isegoria
2025.09.27
60% relevant
The post traces how Carnegie units and credit hours standardized time-based schooling and drowned out early mastery advocates; this aligns with the broader thesis that mastery learning struggles due to governance and incentive structures rather than pedagogy alone.
Ian Birrell
2025.08.24
70% relevant
New Orleans fired 7,000 teachers, sidelined unions, and gave operators hiring/firing discretion within charter contracts; the Tulane synthesis links that governance flexibility to large gains in test scores, college access, parental satisfaction, and reduced crime—evidence that labor/HR constraints, not pedagogy alone, are the bottleneck.
Arnold Kling
2025.08.15
100% relevant
Reader’s account of SAT prep classes adopting Mastery Learning and detailing workload and adoption hurdles.
Erik Hoel
2025.07.31
50% relevant
Hoel notes early literacy needs 10–30 minutes/day of focused adult time, implying staffing/governance barriers—rather than child 'readiness'—delay independent reading, echoing the thesis that implementation labor, not pedagogy, is the bottleneck.
Razib Khan
2025.07.19
60% relevant
Despain Zhou advocates individualized, advance-at-your-own-pace instruction and argues that prevailing ideology in ed schools blocks it; this complements the claim that operational and staffing constraints (labor/governance) are the true barrier to scaling mastery learning in established schools.