Pat worked with a teacher at high school located in a large metropolitan area in the southwestern part of the United States. The self-contained math class provided instruction for senior high school students with learning disabilities.

Brief Description of Learner: "Jose" was a 17-year old Hispanic teen with learning disabilities, bilingual Spanish/English. He was friendly, outgoing, somewhat immature.

Academic Behavior: Jose was easily frustrated. When frustrated, he became very tense, clenched his fists and teeth, and became restless, getting up from his seat and moving around.

Monitoring System: Measures were taken of his accuracy on tests, quizzes, and daily work.

Instructional System (antecedents and consequences of the academic behavior): We implemented Mastery Learning with Jose. We introduced math problems related to real life situations, providing problems both in writing and orally and through dramatic role plays. The consequences included immediate correction using Fred Jones style of providing brief focused assistance, leaving the student within 1-2 minutes to work independently, and returning briefly to assure the student's understanding.

Error Correction Procedure: When Jose made an error, we gave him the correct answer and worked together to find where the error occurred.

Intervention System (any changes in antecedents and consequences or error correction procedure): We developed and taught specifically targeted mini-lessons. We helped Jose draw on prior knowledge to develop catch phrases to help remember vocabulary (i.e., mnemonics) and we used guided practice. We helped the student to work through the mathematics processes in Spanish whenever he thought it would help.

Summary: Jose improved from 50% to approximately 80%. Success was realized after review and practice; however when tested without the cumulative review, Jose scored in the 60% range. Although this represents an improvement, it is not at mastery level which is needed for the life-skills he is learning.

Recommendations: We recommend the continuation of mini-lessons and guided practice as well as cumulative review in both languages until Jose masters the skill.

Overall Reflection of Progress in Implementing Effective Teaching Practices and Instructional Management Systems: I believe my overall progress in implementing effective teaching practices has been good. Because of the diversity of the population, I have had the opportunity to use mastery learning and to develop lessons using a variety of lesson plan methods. I have learned how to focus on academics and still maintain a chatty rapport with the students.