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This thesis describes an investigation into the outcomes of a developmental project focussed on improving the word reading skills of a group of (n=77) secondary school students across five different school settings in a South West of England Local Authority. The 'Plymouth Precision Teaching Project' was conducted during the 2007/8 academic year commencing in September 2007 through to April 2008. The project involved the delivery of regular Precision Teaching (PT) programmes across two cohorts (1 and 2) of students by Teaching Assistants (TAs) in each school who themselves received ongoing training and support throughout the project. This thesis reports on three inter-connected aspects of research stemming from the project: Aspect One considered the impact of PT interventions delivered by trained TAs on groups of secondary school students with literacy learning needs through a quasi-experimental design. Aspect Two investigated the adaptations made by TAs within PT programmes to improve student word reading skills; from here a framework for systematic teaching adaptations was formulated, trialled and reviewed. Aspect Three drew on the experiences of school staff and their learning throughout the initiative. The value of participating in the research was investigated through exploring TAs’ reflections on the development of their understanding of the processes and practices surrounding ‘teaching and learning’. Outcomes of the research point to the continuing contribution of PT to addressing basic reading skill needs through heightened structure to intervention delivery, promotion and scrutiny of ‘treatment fidelity’ and an ongoing, systemic approach to the development of staff skills. This thesis also emphasises the mutual benefits that a collaborative project such as this can bring about; not only can staff contribute to the development of intervention approaches and provide high-quality interventions, but they can also develop their professional knowledge too. As a venture networking schools, a local authority educational psychology service and a university department, it is suggested this thesis reflects a description of the ground modernised educational psychology services should seek to occupy more and more.

This study investigated the effects of a precision teaching package on response rates of children with autism. Prior to both experiments a preference assessment was conducted to identify high preference activities for each participant. Experiment 1 investigated whether response rates would shift as a function of rate-contingent consequences during an academic task. Different activities were associated with different rates of responding. The experimental package of 1 minute timings, rate contingent consequences, and charting was successful in increasing the rates of responding when the most highly preferred activity was associated with high rates of responding. When the contingencies were switched and the most highly preferred activity was contingent on lower rates of responding, the participant's responding did not decrease. Experiment 2 was an attempt to replicate the results of Experiment 1 using a multiple baseline across tasks. The experimental package was not successful in increasing the rate of responding.

This study examines the effects of training in two yoked learning channels (hearsee/say and hearsee/write) on the acquisition, generalization and retention of learning. Four fifth-grade participants were taught the lower-case letters of the Greek alphabet. Twelve letters were taught in the hearsee/say channel and twelve letters taught in the hearsee/write channel for equal amounts of time. The see/say channel reached higher frequencies at the end of training and showed higher acquisition celerations than the see/write channel. However, the see/write channel showed higher accuracy and retention than the see/say channel. The see/write channel also showed greater generalization across learning channels including the see/say, think/say, think/write and see-name/draw-symbol.

This research examined three components of precision teaching; charting, timed practices, and performance aims. In the first study beginner skaters performed two roller skating skills, forward crosses and back scissors, with the aim of increasing fluency in these skills using precision teaching methods. Skaters were told to perform the skills as fast as they could during 1-min practises, aiming at a set performance aim, or goal. After each timing skaters were told how many repetitions they had performed. One group charted back scissors only and the other forward crosses only. The skaters became faster in both skills and charting did not produce faster rates. The improvement seen may have been a direct result of the performance aims. Therefore the second study, using back crosses, compared a fixed, difficult performance aim (complete 50 per minute) for one group and an easier, flexible performance aim (beat your previous sessions' high score) for a second group. After each timing skaters were told how many back crosses they had performed. Performance rates increased similarly for both groups, thus the different performance aims did not have different effects, contrary to the goal-setting literature. A third study investigated this further. Skaters performed forward crosses and back scissors during a baseline condition, where there were no performance aims or feedback. Increases in performance rates for both skills occurred. In a second condition, a performance aim higher than their number of repetitions in the previous condition was set and feedback was given for one skill only. There was an immediate increase in rate of the targeted skill for 3 of the 4 skaters, suggesting that the goal, when given with feedback, influenced the rate at which the skaters performed the skill. In the fourth study, where the effect of feedback and practice was examined more closely, soccer players dribbled a ball in and out of cones. As expected those who took part in eight to ten sessions that were told to do their best (an easy goal) and not given feedback performed this skill faster than those who completed only two sessions with the same conditions. Unexpectedly, they also performed faster than those set a performance aim of beating their previous highest score (a hard goal) and who were given feedback. Methodological issues that may have been responsible for this latter result were addressed in the fifth study. Skaters completing 10 sessions of forward crosses, with feedback and with a performance aim of completing 60 repetitions in one minute (a hard goal), became faster than skaters completing 10 sessions without feedback who were told to do their best. Skaters told to do their best, who completed only three sessions without feedback, did not get faster. These results support those in the goal-setting literature that, hard goals with feedback have more effect than being told to do your best. Overall these studies show that short, timed practices and hard performance aims, or goals, may be effective components of precision teaching while visual feedback from charting may not. Further, precision teaching methods were effective when applied to sporting skills such as those used by roller skaters and soccer players for building fluency of basic skills.

Traditional teaching methods use accuracy-only criterion when teaching students a specific skill, but more and more students are being left behind in classrooms because they are not mastering the skill. Using fluency, a combination of speed and accuracy, as a mastery criterion has shown to improve both retention and mastery. Previous research suggested that frequency scores closer to the predicted frequency aim produced greater retention. It is unclear at what frequency aim a decay in retention begins to occur. The purpose of the present study was to examine the differential effects of retention on preschool participants’ reading first grade Dolch sight words once the skill had been strengthened to 3 frequencies (i.e., 15 correct words/min, which is 25% of the accepted fluency aim, 30 correct words/min, which is 50% of the accepted fluency aim, and 60 correct words/min, which is 100% of the accepted fluency aim) using fluency training and the Precision Teaching method. Three preschool age participants were assessed for retention 2 weeks and 6 weeks after reaching criterion. All participants maintained teaching frequencies of correct responding 2 weeks after reaching mastery for all 3 frequency aims. Six weeks after teaching, 1 out of 3 participants showed retention for the 15 correct words per min criterion, all participants showed retention for the 30 correct words per min criterion, and all participants showed a decay in retention of correct responding for the 60 correct words per min criterion. Limitations and future research were discussed.

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The relative efficacy of training procedures emphasizing accuracy versus those which add a rate criterion is a topic of debate. The desired learning outcome is fluent responding, assessed by measures of retention, endurance, stability, and application. The current study examined the effects of these two procedures on fluency outcomes using a matching-to-sample paradigm to train participants to match English to Japanese characters. An explicit FR-3 observing response was added to an accuracy-only condition to assess the extent to which it may facilitate learning. Total time spent responding in practice drills in accuracy-only conditions was yoked to total time spent in drills achieving rate aims in accuracy+rate (AR) conditions. One participant clearly demonstrated superior fluency outcomes after AR training while another displayed superior endurance and stability outcomes after such training. The remaining two participants did not demonstrate significantly different fluency outcomes across conditions.

This study examined the effects of fluency-based instruction on the identification of six component-composite relations for early reading skills. Five participants (ages 5-8) who struggled with reading participated. A multiple probe design was used to assess the effects of frequency building on prerequisite skills on the emergence of composite reading skills. The results show that the prerequisite skills taught did not have an effect on the composite skill probes but did have an effect on the assessment scores. The data expand the research pertaining to Precision Teaching, fluency-based instruction, and component-composite relations. These data suggest that additional skills may be needed to be taught in order to effects on the composite skills. In addition, these authors identify the need for the identification of the component skills necessary to teach rapid autonomic naming.

Precision teaching (PT) is a measurement system used in multiple settings for all types of behavior, from driving to mathematics. The ultimate goal of PT is to develop fluent, free operant behaviors through analyzing response frequencies on a standard celeration chart. Research has found PT to be effective at improving both the speed and accuracy of academic skills. There is little research, however, in the effects of learning channels, a component of PT, as they relate to the acquisition of academic skills. The present study examined the relationship between single and multiple learning channels on the acquisition of mathematics skills by five 1st graders in a public school setting. Implications related to universal designs for learning (UDL) utilized in educational environments are also discussed.