SALTA 5th grade

Progress Monitoring

What is progress monitoring? Progress monitoring is “a scientifically based practice that is used to assess students’ academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction.” (National Center on Student Progress Monitoring, 2016). Progress monitoring involves frequent measurement of student performance for the purpose of evaluating a student’s growth toward a targeted objective. For example, the trajectory of reading growth can be measured with the weekly administration of reading probes. This is a powerful use of formative evaluation that can be highly motivating to students as they self-monitor their progress. Progress monitoring is an assessment strategy that has been demonstrated to have a high effect size on student achievement, particularly when data are graphed, shared with students, and decision rules are used to determine when an intervention is working or when interventions should be intensified. Why progress monitor? Best practice indicates that students who are significantly behind in basic foundational skills, such as reading and math, should receive intensified instruction accompanied by frequent progress monitoring for the purpose of evaluating a student’s growth toward a targeted objective and adjusting instruction based on resulting student growth. For example, the rate of improvement can be measured with weekly administration of reading probes. This is a powerful use of formative evaluation and makes skill improvement visible to teacher and student alike. Being able to see progress is highly motivating; lack of progress prompts problem-solving and joint responsibility (student, teachers, and where possible, parents) to find a solution. Progress monitoring is essential for examining the effectiveness of Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). Who is progress monitored? Students who perform at grade-level (i.e. are meeting benchmarks) should not be progress monitored. Screening three times per year is enough to make sure these students are continuing on an appropriate trajectory. Students who are currently performing below or well-below benchmark on curriculum-based measures (e.g. DIBELS Next, DIBELS Math) should be progress monitored weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, depending on how far behind students are and the resources available for progress monitoring and intensified interventions. Ideally, students who are well below benchmark and are receiving intensive interventions should be progress monitored weekly with a curriculum-based measure. Once students are consistently performing above benchmark levels, progress monitoring is no longer necessary. As a very general rule of thumb, in elementary schools, one would expect the number of students requiring progress monitoring to be between 10% and 25% of the total student population. For some highly impacted schools with large numbers of ELs and/or high poverty, the percentage may be higher. However, keep in mind that progress monitoring too many students eats up resources that could be used for intensifying interventions for students who need it most. Who conducts the progress monitoring assessment? Ideally, the teachers primarily responsible for a given student’s intensive intervention should conduct the progress monitoring. This could be a classroom teacher, a special education teacher, or an intervention specialist. However, instructional assistants and specialized staff who instruct students may also progress monitor students. In any case, in order to best inform decision making, data from progress monitoring should be shared with all teachers responsible for a student’s learning, the student, and the parents of that student. It is the combination of all of these individuals that makes a collaborative intervention team. If a teacher or staff member progress monitors 1-2 students per group per day, 10-20 students could potentially be monitored biweekly. When to progress monitor within the school day? Each site will need to identify appropriate times to progress monitor students. Some suggested times for progress monitoring include: during skills-based instruction, during entrance and exit tasks, etc.

06/09/16