August Dvorak (1894-1975): Early expressions of applied behavior analysis and precision teaching.

The authors tell the story of August Dvorak, a 1930s educator who taught typing. They show that his daily charts, speed counts, and let-the-learner-set-the-pace method match today’s precision teaching tools.

The paper is a short history lesson, not an experiment. It pulls quotes and photos from old manuals to prove that ABA-style measurement existed decades before the field had a name.

Dvorak had his students time each 30-second burst and plot the count on a standard speed chart. If the line went up for three days, the student moved to the next lesson. That is the same frequency-building logic BCBAs use now.

He also let students choose when to advance, a built-in form of learner control that mirrors modern self-monitoring.

Tiernan et al. (2022) looked at 30 years of precision-teaching studies. Their review now covers the very charting habits Dvorak used in 1936, so the old typing class sits inside the modern evidence base.

Barbash (2021) praises Siegfried Engelmann for data-driven design. Dvorak and Engelmann both show that tight measurement and clear rules are not new—they are rediscovered again and again.

Ribes-Iñesta (1999) tracks Thorndike’s shift from puzzle boxes to classrooms. Thorndike gave us learning laws; Dvorak gave us a daily way to watch them work.

Next time you hand a learner a timing sheet and a pen, you are copying Dvorak, not inventing the wheel. Tell your students the story: a typing teacher proved that counting and charting beats guessing. It builds buy-in and shows that precision teaching has an 80-year winning streak.