An Examination of the Effectiveness of Precision Teaching

Abstract

This research examined the effect of adding precision teaching to an already used method of times table practice, compared practice with and without precision teaching, and finally compared precision teaching to rate building. In the first experiment there was no significant difference in students' rates, endurance, stability, application or adduction of answering times table equations, depending on whether or not they had received precision teaching. Due to some confounding variables in the first experiment, a second experiment was performed where these variables where better controlled. The results from the second experiment also showed no significant difference in students' rates of answering time's table equations, or their retention of these rates, between students who had received precision teaching and those who had not. Again due to some confounding variables preventing a good comparison of practice with and without precision teaching, a further experiment was conducted. As the third experiment was conducted in the same setting as the second, precision teaching was compared to rate building instead of practice with no precision teaching. The results of this study suggest that rate building results in significantly larger increases in rates of answering times table equations than precision teaching. While there was a significant difference between the two groups' increases in rate, there were some confounding variables that may have affected the outcome of this study. Overall, students in all three experiments made increases in rate that are comparative to gains reported in the precision teaching literature. As such while this research does not add support for all the methods used in precision teaching, as described in the literature, it does suggest that the use of rate building results in the achievement of faster rates.