Robert Slavin's
QAIT Model

Robert Slavin created a model for effective classroom instruction, entitled the QAIT model, an acronym standing for four basic elements he deemed vital to instructing students to their highest learning potential, Quality of instruction, Appropriate levels of instruction, Incentive, and Time. According to Slavin, all four elements must be present for effectiveness. Slavin defines quality of instruction as "The degree to which information or skills are presented so that students can easily learn them. He defines appropriate levels of instruction as "The degree to which the teacher makes sure that students are ready to learn the lesson (that is, have the necessary skills and knowledge to learn it) but have not already learned the lesson." Incentives are defined as "The degree to which the teacher makes sure that students are motivated to work on instructional tasks and to learn the material being presented," and lastly Slavin defines time as "The degree to which students are given enough time to learn the material being taught."

SLAVIN'S QAIT MODEL    Robert Slavin created a model to achieve the most effective learning in the classroom. He termed his revision of John Carroll's model of school learning the QAIT model. QAIT is an acronym for Quality of instruction, Appropriate levels of instruction, Incentive, and Time. This site describes each aspect of the model as applicable to teachers.

PROMOTING INSTRUCTIONAL COHERENCE      This site addresses policies and five case studies to help determine if the educational experiences of students are coherent and meaningful. Its purpose is to improve the quality of instruction through a project, which hopes to build a conceptual understanding about instructional coherence; develop collaborative partnerships; understand the barriers and facilitators to teaching and learning; and develop a portfolio of processes, tools and strategies to assist educators.

TOWARD A DESIGN FOR APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION      Appropriate instruction for the learner includes the environment in which he is instructed and the type of instruction administered. This site addresses generative environments, hypermedia environments, and microworlds as well as learner control instruction and cooperative learning instruction in a secondary physics classroom.

CLASSROOM INCENTIVE SYSTEM    This site presents two systems used in the classroom as incentives for  students to behave and learn. The first incentive policy involves the class as a whole. The second policy only targets one child with a behavior problem. Both policies are practiced in an eighth grade social studies class. The two systems theorize on the effects of reward and punishments.
 

USING "THINK-TIME" AND "WAIT-TIME" SKILLFULLY IN THE CLASSROOM     Information processing involves multiple cognitive tasks that take time. Students must have uninterrupted periods of time to process information; reflect on what has been said, observed, or done; and consider what their personal responses will be. The concept of "wait-time" as an instructional variable was invented by Mary Budd Rowe (1972). The "wait-time" periods she found--periods of silence that followed teacher questions and students' completed responses--rarely lasted more than 1.5 seconds in typical classrooms. She discovered, however, that when these periods of silence lasted at least 3 seconds, many positive things happened to students' and teachers' behaviors and attitudes.