While teaching high school math in Washington, D.C., Robert Barnett faced a common classroom dilemma: how to best instruct students who learn at different paces.

Barnett, alongside another math teacher in his school, Kareem Farah, started self-producing video lessons that could be watched during class time so students could learn at their own speed. This method allowed Barnett and Farah to address questions individually or in small groups. The results were effective and in 2018, Barnett and Farah left full-time teaching to launch the Modern Classrooms Project (MCP), which focuses on digitizing lessons and administering mastery-based learning in the classroom.

“We lead a movement of educators in implementing a self-paced, mastery-based instructional model that leverages technology to foster human connection, authentic learning, and social-emotional growth,” MCP wrote on its website.

As schools are beginning to move away from the traditional one-size-fits-all teaching method, organizations like MCP are offering resources and training to educators so they can let students control the pace of their learning and progress by demonstrating mastery. MCP says it has partnered with more than 250 schools and districts across the country.

Three leaders familiar with the MCP program shared their experiences during a recent webinar moderated by Barnett, who is the chief product officer for the organization. Here are some takeaways from the discussion.

What is mastery-based learning?

Also known as competency-based education, mastery-based learning requires the teacher to determine learning outcomes on a given unit and create assessments that, if completed correctly, prove a student has mastery of the subject. Students who do not pass the assessment are given a new one created by their teacher to address missed concepts.

How is the Modern Classrooms approach implemented in the classroom?

The first step is to digitize lessons and avoid having most of class time spent with teachers lecturing students. Educators record themselves and have students watch the videos during class, allowing learners to stop, start, or move ahead as much as they need. Kids then assess what they’ve learned by completing an activity developed by the teacher that proves true understanding of a unit.

Instructors should administer mastery-based assessments as a way to track each student’s individual progress, Barnett noted during the webinar. MCP also provides resources to teachers interested in the program. For example, those who have been successful with this instructional approach can become mentors, providing feedback on lesson plans and answering questions from new teachers.

MCP’s growth has been organic, making it unique, said Deborah Gist, a former superintendent in Tulsa, Okla., and education commissioner in Rhode Island.

In Tulsa, implementation of the MCP instructional approach “wasn’t top-down,” Gist said during the webinar. “Teachers heard about it by word of mouth. They saw the difference that it was making, not only for colleagues that they had, but also for the students of those colleagues, and it took off because it works.”

What’s the role of technology in an MCP classroom?

The MCP program has teachers record all their lessons for students to watch at their own pace. However, this has created a misconception that computers are replacing teachers, Barnett said.

In reality, he said, “MCP is making teaching more human by spending time sitting down with learners.”

What are the benefits of a mastery-based instructional approach?

Leaders at MCP believe that students working at their own paces will develop a sense of efficacy and autonomy in their education, which could lead to reduced student absenteeism.