Behavioral fluency is that combination of accuracy plus speed of responding that enables competent individuals to function efficiently and effectively in their natural environments. Evolving from the methodology of free-operant conditioning, the practice of precision teaching set the stage for discoveries about relations between behavior frequency and specific outcomes, notably retention and maintenance of performance, endurance or resistance to distraction, and application or transfer of training. The use of frequency aims in instructional programming by Haughton and his associates led to formulation of empirically determined performance frequency ranges that define fluency. Use of fluency-based instructional methods has led to unprecedented gains in educational cost effectiveness, and has the potential for significantly improving education and training in general. This article traces the development of concepts, procedures, and findings associated with fluency and discusses their implications for instructional design and practice. It invites further controlled research and experimental analyses of phenomena that may be significant in the future evolution of educational technology and in the analysis of complex behavior.
Although educators, policy‐makers, business leaders, and the general public have become increasingly concerned about the “basic skills” crisis in American schools, research‐based solutions have existed for over two decades in the form of measurably superior teaching methodologies: Precision Teaching and Direct Instruction. In federally validated research, each of these instructional technologies has been shown to produce far greater achievement and self‐esteem among students than more traditional teaching practices, with favorable cost‐benefit ratios when implemented in schools. These results have been obtained despite adverse socio economic influences on students so of ten blamed for failure in the classroom. These methods have not been widely adopted, partly due to political and philosophical resistance to measurably superior instructional technology among educators.
This article provides overviews of Precision Teaching and Direct Instruction, discusses their origins and research backgrounds, cites effec tiveness data, and describes how they can complement one another when used together. It provides sufficient references to the literature and pointers to existing programs to enable interested readers to learn more about each of these measurably superior educational solutions.
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