By Richard McManus
Also published in the November 2003 Kidding Around

Schools throughout the USA use grades with children. Most of us grew up with grades and tests-we understand them quite well. We take grades for granted as a normal part of the educational process, but unfortunately they are based upon beliefs that we rarely consider. Underlying the system is the assumption that sorting out children is a good thing. There can only be so many A's in a group. Not every child can get one, or it "cheapens" the grade. There is nothing above an A+, and most of the time the grading or sorting process is graded 'on the curve-the bell curve.' Unfortunately some children will get F's or D's, meaning that they "grade low" in a particular class. Many will get B's and C's, and a handful will get A's and A+'s.

This is a good system for eggs or meat, but not for learners. All too often learners begin to think of themselves as "not grade A material" and lose confidence in their abilities. If you think you can't, then you won't. In addition, grading removes the pressure to assist every child to achieve outstanding results. The system says some children will not achieve outstanding levels.

There is another way to look at learning: believe that every child is Grade A material and give them the practice, expectations and feedback they achieve absolutely top level performances. Precision Teaching is a tool to help children reach these heightened expectations.

Precision teaching was created by Ogden Lindsley in 1965. Dr. Lindsley wanted to provide a graphic language for changes in learning—and he wanted the chart to be useful whether the individual was doing one ‘thing’ per day or a thousand in a minute. He put a day-by-day calendar across the bottom of a sheet of semi-log graph paper. The semi-log paper changes 'the learning curve' into a straight line, easy to predict and simple to use as a diagnostic of whether learning is taking place. This chart is the key feature of Precision Teaching. On this chart, a line sloping up means that the student is learning, a flat line indicates that the student is saying the same, and a downward line indicates that a particular thing is decreasing. Usually what we want to decrease is mistakes or errors. For example, at The Fluency Factory we chart ‘words read correctly per minute’ and ‘words read incorrectly per minute’ each time we listen to a student read.

Dr. Lindsley called this graph ‘The Standard Behavior Chart’ at first. Over time he has changed the name several times. Currently the chart is called ‘The Standard Celeration Chart,’ but he has been considering changing the name to ‘The Standard Change Chart’ because it makes changes so clear and easy to see and understand. Whatever it is called, the Standard Chart is a navigational tool for understanding learning.

Instead of grading children and comparing them with each other, the chart displays performance and allows students to make progress against their own best records, not against other students. Students are able to reach levels of excellence beyond an A+, even beyond 100%. For example, students in math at The Fluency Factory achieve accurate performance in math calculations of between 60 and 80 answers per minute. These rapid, accurate skills enable them to concentrate on solving more complex problems without fears about the routine calculations.

Precision Teaching sometimes intimidates people because the measurement tool that we use looks kind of strange and most of us think of "tests" as a part of the grading process. Daily testing seems very harsh and demanding. Testing is a way to sort children. Measurement is a tool for building their skills. Standard Charting is simply a way of finding out how a student is doing for the purpose of improving skills. Do not let the chart scare you-it does look different-but it is a tool that expects and enables mastery learning.

It is important to know more than how accurately a student can read. If you have ever listened to a beginning violinist, or a beginning reader, you will know why it is important. The pace of a performance is as critical as the accuracy. Playing ‘the right notes’ but slowly and without rhythm results in an inadequate performance. Similarly, reading the right words, but slowly and painfully, does not lead to comprehension and enjoyment. It is important to read both accurately and fluently even if you are a beginning reader. This is because reading is like riding a bicycle. Reading slowly is very difficult for new learners, just like riding slowly on a bicycle. It is easy to "fall off" and lose confidence in your skill. Research on reading by the National Institutes of Health indicates that 40% of American citizens are reading disabled to the extent that they dislike reading and will not read independently or for pleasure. Once you "fall off" in reading you may never master the skill.

How much of your High School French or German do you remember? Were you fluent in that language, or were you struggling throughout? If you never achieved a fluent, conversational level, it is unlikely that you have retained any of that language. Fluent performance enables retention of a skill—like riding a bicycle.

Precision Teaching has developed standards for reading fluency. For young children, up to grade five, we expect children to read phonics (sounds alone) at 50-60 sounds per minute, individual words at 50-70 words per minute, and 150 words per minute aloud when reading passages, such as a book or newspaper. Students who can read fluently will master new vocabulary with confidence and ease. They will add the new vocabulary to their previously learned vocabulary with ease.

Precision Teaching uses daily measurement of learning, measuring both correct and incorrect responses per minute. Students reach mastery levels of performance—above an A—and gain a skill that will be fun and useful for life. As a result, Precision Teaching student performances on standardized tests frequently far surpass those of students who are in a ‘grading’ school because they are mastering, not "passing" the material they are learning.

Precision Teaching is useful for more than reading and mathematics. Thirty years of research findings have enabled Precision Teaching teachers all over the world to help students become masters of reading, mathematics, typing, foreign languages, vocational skills, public speaking, even college engineering and basketball! Precision Teaching is a useful tool in mastering any complex set of skills.