Use of a Personalized System of Instruction with and without a Same-Day Retake Contingency on Spelling Performance of Behaviorally Disordered Children.

The effects of a personalized system of instruction (PSI) with and without a same day retake contingency on the spelling performance of 10 behaviorally disordered students were evaluated. The results indicate more spelling lessons were passed with 100% accuracy when the PSI program was in effect. A further increase in the number of lessons passed occurred when retakes were allowed each day. Individual data for three selected students indicate that their performance in creased with PSI and PSI with retakes. From items on a questionnaire adminis tered to students, it was found that the students felt their spelling test performance was higher during the PSI program. The students preferred the PSI spelling pro gram to that of the traditional preand posttest spelling procedure (Baseline 1 and 2). The class also preferred the retake component over the non-retake component in the PSI spelling program. Recommendations for classroom use of personalized systems of instruction (PSI) are made. The use of personalized systems of instruction (PSI) at the college or university level has been well documented in the literature (Hursh, 1976; Johnson, 1975; Semb, 1974, 1975; Williams, 1976). There has also been evidence that PSI has benefited student achievement in courses ranging from biology to law (Johnson, 1975). According to Williams (1976) there are several components in a personalized system of instruction. These include (a) written study objectives, (b) division of the course content into small units of material, (c) use of the written word, (d) student self-pacing through the curricula, (e) a high mastery criteria to ad vance to the next unit of material, (f) immediate feedback as to performance on exams or quizzes, and (g) the use of student proctors or tutors. The data from the college instruction literature have indicated that allowing students the opportunity to retake exams until a high mastery level of performance improved course grades, and the students preferred such a procedure (Bostow & Blumenfeld, 1972; Malott, 1984). College students will also complete remedial quizzes when minimal course credit is given for less than A level performance (Bostow & Blumenfeld, 1972; Malott, 1984). There is ample evidence as to the effectiveness of PSI at the college and university level, but minimal evidence for the effects of PSI with respect to quiz frequency, same-day re takes, mastery criteria, pacing of instruction, and so forth at the elementary grade school level. McLaughlin and Malaby (1975) reported that students in the sixth grade could improve their grades in a social studies course taught by a PSI format. Also, the students preferred PSI to that of the more traditional teaching in social studies. McLaughlin and Malaby (1974) also found that student performance in a commercially available map reading skills program could be improved with the use of teacher pacing procedures. In a related study, Lovitt and his co-workers have presented data that indicate that one component of PSI, written study objectives, is helpful to middle school mildly handicapped students in science and social studies (Horton & Lovitt, in press; Horton, Lovitt, Givens, Nelson, 1989; Lovitt & Horton, 1987; Lovitt, Rudsit, Jenkins, Pious, & Benedetti, 1985). While PSI has been shown to be Portions of this data were presented at the Northern California Association for Behavior Analysis, San Francisco, March 1989. Requests for reprints should be addressed to the author. A special note of thanks is offered to Florence Orvik for allowing this research in her school, and to Mary Dolliver for all of her assistance. Behavioral Disorders February 1991 [Vol. 16 No. 2 127-132] 127 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.111 on Sun, 22 May 2016 05:23:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms effective in various classroom settings, there is scant evidence available with respect to its effectiveness with elementary special education children. The present study examines the use of PSI with behaviorally disordered students. The purpose of the study was threefold: (a) to compare the effectiveness of the frequency of available quizzes component of PSI (Retakes versus No Same-Day Retakes), (b) to con trast PSI to the more traditional manner of teaching spelling at the elementary school level (Monday Pretest and Friday Posttest), and (c) to examine student perceptions and prefer ences for the various experimental manipulations at the end of the study.