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Progress monitoring is an important part of every curriculum, but for MTSS, it’s essential to the success of the students and the program. If teachers don’t have data on whether students are improving, or not, and by how much, then they can’t administer proper interventions. And if they don’t have the data, they can’t know if the intervention is appropriate for their learners.

During the edLeader Panel “Finding Your Purpose for Progress Monitoring: Steps for Success,” Dr. Matthew Burns, Fein Professor of Special Education at the University of Florida, and Dr. Michelle Hosp, Senior Director of Assessment Innovation at Renaissance, offered their insights into collecting effective data.

Understand the Different Assessment Tools

Teachers employ three basic types of assessments with MTSS:

1. Screening tests identify who is not likely to reach the end-of-year goal(s).
2. Diagnostics help teachers pinpoint exactly which skills a student is having difficulty with.
3. Progress monitoring focuses on understanding if the student is improving and if the intervention is making a difference.

Understand the Goals of Progress Monitoring

All staff need to agree on the purpose of any program. For progress monitoring, the panelists said the essential elements include assessing student performance, quantifying their progress, and looking at their progress against both end-of-year goals as well as subskills.

In addition, they need to agree on what information they will collect. Typically, it’s answering three main questions:

1. Is the student improving with this instruction?
2. Is the improvement occurring at a rate to close the learning gap?
3. Is the intervention effective for the students as a whole?

Finally, while teachers don’t want to ignore students who are at or above grade level, MTSS progress monitoring is only for students receiving interventions.

Focus on Both General and Subskills

General Outcomes Measures (GOM) capture lots of skills in one score related to one overall learning goal, such as oral literacy. Skill or Mastery Measures (SBMs or MMs), on the other hand, represent a discrete skill, such as being able to sound out short vowel sounds.

SBMs focus on students developing both accuracy and automaticity. It’s only once a student obtains automaticity that they can generalize it and apply it in other contexts. Thus, their scores on the GOM won’t necessarily rise at the same rate as the SBM. The panelists suggest rotating through the different assessments to gain an accurate picture of student progress.

Collect Enough Data Points to Make Informed Decisions

As with any statistical report, there is always a standard measure of error for assessments. At a minimum, educators need 6-10 data points to determine whether progress is being made, or not, and at what rate. You need to look at whether the student is progressing at a rate that equals the goal.

Set Appropriate Goals Based on Student Needs

When students are learning below grade level, educators should be on high alert. They can’t wait for the typical learning time for the students to improve. Educators can use benchmarks that provide predictive performance criteria for comparison. Students who are close to grade level, though, won’t need to progress as quickly. For this group, educators can use norms (national or local) that compare to a representative peer group.

Don’t Layer on New Concepts Too Quickly

Intervention already adds a level of stress to a student’s school life. Make sure they are proficient in any new skills before adding on another one, and make sure there is time to reinforce skills throughout the year.

Look at Student Cohorts as Well as Individual Data

Just as educators shouldn’t make a decision about a student’s individual progress based on a few data points, they also need to view the data in the context of their peer group. If one group of students is receiving the same phonics intervention, for instance, the educator should look at the progress of each student on the same skills. If only one student isn’t making progress, then the teacher can look at further interventions on that topic for the student.

If there are some making progress and others are not, then it might be time to break them up into different groups. But if most of the students aren’t making progress, it’s time to examine the intervention: Is it being used with fidelity? Are the students receiving the intervention on the prescribed basis? Or, is the intervention just not working?

Use Studied and Validated Assessments

While teachers may want to make their own assessments, the room for data error is too great with intervention. Administrators should invest in proven programs that can provide effective data.

Finally, the panelists noted that many educators worry about the time needed for progress monitoring, but they have found that when teachers incorporate it into their daily schedules, they—and the students—become used to the routine. In fact, they find that students will often keep the teachers on task because the students are invested in their own learning.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Finding Your Purpose for Progress Monitoring: Steps for Success, sponsored by Renaissance.

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Article by Stacey Pusey, based on this edLeader Panel