Achieving True Mastery of Human Performance

Ayers, S., Potter, R., & McDearmon, J. (1975). Using Reinforcement Therapy and Precision Teaching Techniques with Adult Aphasics. J. Behav. Ther. and Exp. Psychiat., 6, 301-305. Pergamon Press. Printed in Great Britain. This paper describes a treatment procedure combining reinforcement therapy with precision teaching techniques, applied to four adult aphasics. 

Barrett, B. H. (1979). Communitization and the measured message of normal behavior. In R. York, & E. Edgar (Eds.), Teaching the Severely Handicapped, (Vol.4, pp.301-318). Columbus, OH: Special Press. This classic paper is no longer widely available and we're happy to be able to include it here. The late Beatrice Barrett was one of the most articulate advocates of frequency-based instruction and the application of behavior science in education. This chapter presents a data set that has been reprinted and presented hundreds of times since, showing how count per minute measures distinguish among levels of competence, whereas percent correct cannot.

Binder, C. (2004).  B.H. Barrett (1929-2003). American Psychologist.  American Psychological Association, 59(6). 561

Barrett, B. H., Beck, R., Binder, C., et al. (1991). The Right to Effective Education. The Behavior Analyst, 14(1), 79-82. We recommend this paper to every educational professional, parent, and anyone else who wants to know about the things research says that education should provide. It is a thorough and still-relevant review of what we know from research that should be included in any educational program, including measurement of and methods for building fluency.

Binder, C. (1987, September). Computing "Fluency" and Productivity. Managing End User Computing, 4-5. This article succinctly describes the elements of a learning strategy for building fluent use of computers.

Binder, C. (1988). Precision Teaching: Measuring and Attaining Exemplary Academic Achievement. Youth Policy Journal, 10(7), 12-15. An old article with a succinct description of Precision Teaching, fluency-based education for children.

Binder, C. (1990). Precision Teaching and Curriculum Based Measurement. Journal of Precision Teaching, 7(2), 33-35. Fairly esoteric, for teachers, but might also interest the curious layperson.

Binder, C. (1990, September). Closing the Confidence Gap. Training, 49-56. Fluency is fun, produces confidence, and brings on a whole host of positive feelings and affect. It feels good to truly "master" and apply any skill or body of knowledge.

Binder, C. (1990). Efforts to Promote Measurably Superior Instructional Methods in Schools. Performance & Instruction, 29(9), 32-34. National Society for Performance and Instruction. 

Binder, C. (1993). Behavioral Fluency: A New Paradigm. Educational Technology, 33(10), 8-14. Summary of principles and key research supporting fluency-based instruction, including references to early studies in verbal learning and other traditional areas of experimental psychology.

Binder, C. (1996). Behavioral Fluency: Evolution of a New Paradigm. The Behavior Analyst, 19(2), 163-197. A longer and more academic article about the origins and principles underlying fluency-based instruction. Almost 20 years later, it continues to be assigned to students in education, instructional design, behavior analysis, and performance improvement.

Binder, C. (2001, March). Measurement: A Few Important Ideas. Performance Improvement, 40(3), 20-28. While this article is not focused on fluency per se, it provides some background about the measurement principles and tools used in Precision Teaching and standard celeration charting, the methodology that has yielded most of what we currently know about fluency-based instruction.

Binder, C. (2003, March). Doesn't Everybody Need Fluency? Performance Improvement, 42(3), 14-20. This article lays out the view that we're all trapped in the percentage correct "box" because of our educational histories since childhood, and that we can't get beyond mediocrity to produce true mastery without measuring the time dimension. "It's the measurement, stupid!" is another rude title for this argument. The article also contains a sort of research travelogue and previews key points from Binder's upcoming book called Everybody Needs Fluency!

Binder, C. (2003, July/August). Q & A: Building Fluency. Training, 14. Interview of Dr. Carl Binder.

Binder, C. (2004). B.H. Barrett (1929-2003).  The American Psychologist, 59(6), 561.

Binder, C. (2004). In Response: A Refocus on Response-Rate Measurement: Comment on Doughty, Chase, and O'Shields (2004). The Behavior Analyst, 27(2), 281-286. This paper was written in response to a review of rate-building research by Doughty, et al., in which the authors introduced errors into the Precision Teaching literature and recommended research designs without explicitly mentioning certain essential measurement components. We have not included the Doughty, et al. article on this website in the absence of permission to do so, but suggest readers request a copy of their article by writing Shannon S. Doughty, the first author, at PSHSSH@srskansas.org.

Binder, C. (2005). Learning, Teaching and an Evolutionary Imperative. The American Psychological Association Division 25 Recorder, 38(1), 10-12. A summary of remarks made by Carl Binder upon receiving the Fred S. Keller Award for Contributions to Behavioral Education. 

Binder, C., & Bloom, C. (1989). Fluent Product Knowledge: Application in the Financial Services Industry. Performance and Instruction, 28(2), 17-21. This paper represents possibly the first documented repeated successes of fluency-based methods in the corporate world – in sales knowledge training for commercial and consumer banking. It launched a company, Product Knowledge Systems, Inc., which enabled sales forces in markets that demand consultative selling to know what they're talking about. 

Binder, C., Haughton, E., & Van Eyk, D. (1990). Increasing Endurance by Building Fluency: Precision Teaching Attention Span. Teaching Exceptional Children, 22(3), 24-27. A description of early research with kids linking so-called "attention deficits " with a lack of fluency.

Binder, C., & Watkins, C. L. (1989, December). Promoting Effective Instructional Medthods: Solutions to America's Educational Crisis. Youth Policy Institute, 1(3), 33-39. This article updates separate articles by each author that appeared in the July/August 1988 issue.

Binder, C., & Watkins, C. L. (1990). Precision Teaching and Direct Instruction: Measurably superior instructional technology in schools. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 3(4), 74-96. A good summary of two evidence-based methodologies that should be used in all schools today. For the presentation by Dr. Binder from this article, click here. 

Bucklin, B. R., Dickinson, A. M., & Brethower, D. M. (2000). A Comparison of the Effects of Fluency Training and Accuracy Training on Application and Retention. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 13(3), 140-163. A good example of basic fluency research, and suggestions for more research if you're looking for a Master's or Doctoral level research topic.

Ericsson, K. A. (2002). Attaining Excellence Through Deliberate Practice: Insights From the Study of Expert Performance. In M. Ferrai (Ed.), The Pursuit of Excellence Through Education (pp.21-55). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. The Educational Psychology series.

Fisher, S. L. (1968). Let's Go Eat Worms! Kansas City, KS: Brennan Printing Company. A delightful small book created as a birthday present for Ogden Lindsley, about the author's "journey" in Precision Teaching.​

Fox, E. J., & Ghezzi, P. M. (2003). Effects of Computer-Based Fluency Training on Concept Formation. Journal of Behavioral Education, 12(1), 1-21. This study, while suffering from a variety of design flaws, represents an important effort to subject instructional methods using response rate mastery criteria to experimental analysis. Future studies would benefit from within-subject control procedures, a larger set of material to be learned, and possibly higher response rate criteria.

Freschi, D. F. (1973). Where We Are. Where We Are Going. How We're Getting There. Teaching Exceptional Children, 6(2), 89-97. David Freschi is Assistant Director of Benhaven, a private school for autistic and neurologically impaired children. 

Gilbert, T. F. (1958). Fundamental Dimensional Properties of the Operant. Psychological Review, 65(5), 272-282. University of Georgia.

Glaser, R. (1976). Components of a Psychological of Instruction: Toward a Science of Design. Review of Educational Research, 46(1), 1-24. University of Pittsburg.

Grabavac, D. M., Goldwater, B. C., & Acker, L. E. (1996). A Laboratory Study Of Fluency Training: Evaluating Effects of Operant Contingencies on Choice Reaction Time [Poster]. Presented at the Association for Behavior Analysis 22nd Annual Convention in San Francisco, CA.

Johnson, K., & Street, E. M. (2004). The Morningside Model of generative instruction: What it means to leave no child behind. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. This book describes the rationale and components of the Morningside Model, a powerful integration of research-based methods built on a foundation of procedures for building fluent skills and knowledge. This link takes you to Amazon where you can purchase the book.

Johnson, K. R., & Layng, T. V. J. (1992). Breaking the structuralist barrier: Literacy and numeracy with fluency. American Psychologist, 47(11), 1475-1490. This article was the first widely distributed description of the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction, an approach to instruction based on Learning Sciences research and a foundation of fluency development. A classic in the field, well worth reading.

Koenig, C. (1972). Charting the Future Course of Behavior. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas]. Precision Media. Written with the direction of Ogden R. Lindsley, PH.D., School of Education, University of Kansas, April 1972.

Kubina, R. M., Jr., & Morrison R. S. (2000). Fluency in Education. Behavior and Social Issues, 10, 83-99. A good plain English discussion of fluency in education, published by a great not-for-profit organization that supports the application of behavior science to practical problems.

Kunzelmann, H., & Koenig, C. Developing An Early Childhood Screening Device. Final Report to Superintendent of Public Instruction Division of Special Services, Early Education for the Handicapped, for Federal Grant Award. By International Management Systems, Inc. November 30, 1978. This grant report describes the process that Harold Kunzelmann, Carl Koenig and their colleagues followed to create their early childhood screening tool. While it is unpublished, we put it here in the reference list near publications by Kunzelmann, et al, that were involved in the same body of work. During the 1970's Harold, Carl and Ogden Lindsley formed International Management systems (IMS), with the intention of eventually moving into business consulting. However, they found a rich vein of interest for their screening and assesment methodologies, so that IMS devoted itself to this type of project. 

Levy, I. M., Fornari, E. D., Schulz, J. F., Pryor, K. W., McKeon, T. R., & Kuhn, L. J. (2016). A curriculum for teaching the foundation tool skills to first-year orthopaedic surgery residents. Montefiore Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine and Surgery, 1(1), 4-19. Here’s an exciting example of fluency that combines tag teaching and neurosurgery.

McDowell, C., & Kennan, M. (2001). Developing fluency and endurance in a child diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 34(3), 345-348. The results reported in this article confirm that building fluency can help to improve attention span and endurance in students who otherwise experience difficulty staying on task.

McGreevy, P. (1983). Teaching and Learning in Plain English: Second Edition. This book is a superb introduction to Precision Teaching and standard celeration charting methods by a long-time master of the methodology, especially applied with children and special education populations. You may purchase the book by clicking on this link.

Starlin, C. M. (1979, December). Evaluating and Teaching Reading to "Irregular" Kids. Iowa Perspective, 1-10. This is a classic article, hard to find anywhere else unless you happen to have a paper copy. It lays out the basics of a Precision Teaching approach to reading. While there are more strategies and pinpoints that might be relevant in some cases (e.g., focus on word attack skills, Elizabeth Haughton's fluency development methods for phonological coding), this is definitely a great place to start.

Vargas, J.S. (2003). Precision Teaching and Skinner’s Legacy. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 4(1-2), 80-86. A review of the power and breadth of precision teaching through looking at 5 articles.

White, O. R. (1971). A Glossary of Behavioral Terminology. Research Press Company. This classic book, by Precision Teaching thought leader, Dr. Owen White, is out of print. We were able to obtain a clean copy of the book from Peggy White, Owen's widow, and are happy to make it availbable. It contains some arcane terminology, and some that has been replaced over the years. But it is a remarkably complete and accurate listing of techical terms that some might find useful, and is historically important. White was a scholar, committed to precision and to communicationg the elements of behavior science. There might be a few terms missing that one could find in contemporary presentations or publication, e.g., establishing operation or motivationg operation. And one might disagree with some of the definitions, based on one's current use, e.g., his descrioption of performance. But overall it is a remarkable piece of work, with a great deal of helpful reference material all in one place.

Zemke, R. (2003, July/August). Training Today Q&A: Building Fluency. Training Magazine, 14. This one-pager by our old late friend, Ron Zemke (Senior Editor at Training Magazine for years and a great performance improvement professional), is a liberally edited summary of an interview he conducted with Carl Binder so that he could present fluency-based training and coaching in a simple, summary way. A pretty good summary for business decisionmakers.

Zernike, K., (1996). Abuses Seen in Requests for Untimed SAT Tests. 'Disabled' Exemption Can Help Boost Score. The Boston Globe, Tuesday, January 16, 1996.​​