Progress Monitoring 101 Guidance from the Tennessee Department of ...

1. Progress Monitoring 101Guidance from the Tennessee Department of Education Presented by: Melanie Patton Director of Evaluation Services Division of Special Education Melanie.Patton@tn.gov

2. Today we will cover general progress monitoring procedures, how to choose an appropriate progress monitoring tool, using the data from p.m. to make educational decisions, and probes for middle, high, written expression, and math. Today we will cover general progress monitoring procedures, how to choose an appropriate progress monitoring tool, using the data from p.m. to make educational decisions, and probes for middle, high, written expression, and math.

3. 45% felt district was not at a confident proficiency level45% felt district was not at a confident proficiency level

4. 50% not at a proficient confidence level50% not at a proficient confidence level

5. What is Progress Monitoring? The National Center on Response to Intervention defines progress monitoring as repeated measurement of academic performance to inform instruction of individual students in general and special education in grades K-8. It is conducted at least monthly to (a) estimate rates of improvement, (b) identify students who are not demonstrating adequate progress and/or (c) compare the efficacy of different forms of instruction to design more effective, individualized instruction. www.rti4success.org

6. Benefits of Progress Monitoring Research shows that when teachers use CBM information to monitor student progress and make instructional changes in response to student data, students achieve significantly more than do students whose teachers use their own assessment practices. Research shows that when teachers use CBM information to monitor student progress and make instructional changes in response to student data, students achieve significantly more than do students whose teachers use their own assessment practices.

8. Characteristics of Progress Monitoring Tools Uses Curriculum-Based Measurements General outcome measures (standard procedures) using materials that are representative and related to the child’s curriculum (i.e. measures what the child is expected to know by the end of the year). CBM measures should be independent of specific instructional techniques. They allow us to make important statements about a child’s academic skills. Two methods of curriculum based measurements #1 – Systematically sample items from the grade level curriculum. Most commonly used for monitoring progress in math. #2 – Identify a global behavior that simultaneously requires the many skills taught in the grade level curriculum. Most commonly used for monitoring progress in reading.

9. Criteria for CBMs (progress monitoring tools) Sensitive to changes in instruction and/or student improvement Uses standardized administration procedures. Materials are equivalent in difficulty level and representative of general education curriculum. Specific scoring procedures Student performance is repeatedly sampled across time Time Efficient Easy to administer and simple to teach to educational professionals Inexpensive and unobtrusive to daily routine Valid with respect to widely used tests of academic skills Stecker, P.M., Fuchs, L.S., & Fuchs D. (2005). Using curriculum-based measurement to improve student achievement: Review of research. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 795-819.

10. Reliability refers to the relations between scores on alternate forms of the measure. When reliability is high teachers can be confident that the scores truly reflect a change in the student’s performance. Reliability for CBM-MAZE ranges from .61 to .91 (strong reliability). Validity measures the extent to which the CBM measures act as indicators of general reading proficiency. It must correlate with other measures of reading proficiency such as standardized test scores. Validity of CBM-MAZE ranges from .80 to .89 (high validity). Reliability refers to the relations between scores on alternate forms of the measure. When reliability is high teachers can be confident that the scores truly reflect a change in the student’s performance. Reliability for CBM-MAZE ranges from .61 to .91 (strong reliability). Validity measures the extent to which the CBM measures act as indicators of general reading proficiency. It must correlate with other measures of reading proficiency such as standardized test scores. Validity of CBM-MAZE ranges from .80 to .89 (high validity).

11. Math CBM

14. Written Expression CBM – Two Ways

15. CBM has been Researched since 1984 When teachers use CBM information to monitor student progress and make instructional changes in response to student data, students achieve significantly more than do students whose teachers use their own assessment practices. Stecker, P.M., Fuchs, L.S., & Fuchs D. (2005). Using curriculum-based measurement to improve student achievement: Review of research. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 795-819.

17. Choosing a progress monitoring tool General Outcome Measures, measure key skills that are representative of and related to important global outcomes, such as reading competence Child has to integrate several different skills in order perform general outcome measure, should be on a level of desired performance by the end of the year. Mastery measurement, such as grades, measure performance on limited content CBM measures should all be of similar difficulty level.General Outcome Measures, measure key skills that are representative of and related to important global outcomes, such as reading competence Child has to integrate several different skills in order perform general outcome measure, should be on a level of desired performance by the end of the year. Mastery measurement, such as grades, measure performance on limited content CBM measures should all be of similar difficulty level.

19. Progress Monitoring in Middle and High School Change focuses from acquiring basic skills to using those skills in content area When a student demonstrates deficits in an area where formal CBM measures don’t exist then measures should be created from the curriculum Can use skill tests that are part of core curriculum Sampling from end of year tests Create MAZE or Math probes based on concepts being taught Assess basic skills that are required to complete a more complex task. Create oral reading fluency probes and MAZE probes from student’s instructional materials, text books, or grade level literature. It may be appropriate to monitor progress for high school students using 8th grade or lower probes if the student is not scoring at least at the 25th percentile on 8th grade probes as compared to 8th grade norms.  If a student does not have basic skills that are in the average range on an 8th grade level, they will likely have significant difficulty accessing high school level content.  Therefore, it may be more efficient to use 8th grade or lower probes to monitor these students' progress until they reach an average or near average level on 8th grade probes.

20. Using Progress Monitoring Data to Inform Instruction

21. How to Interpret Progress Monitoring Data Evaluating progress monitoring data is more about the trend of the scores or rate of improvement (ROI) than it is about whether the scores are simply increasing.  A student's scores may be increasing, but their rate of improvement may not be sufficient to meet the goal or begin to close the achievement gap that exists between his/her performance and that of average grade level peers. Evaluating progress monitoring data is more about the trend of the scores or rate of improvement (ROI) than it is about whether the scores are simply increasing.  A student's scores may be increasing, but their rate of improvement may not be sufficient to meet the goal or begin to close the achievement gap that exists between his/her performance and that of average grade level peers. 

25. Successful IEP Goal Writing Set a few, but important goals Ensure goals are measurable and linked to validated formative evaluation practices Base goal setting on logical educational practices - parents, students, and teachers should be able to understand what the goals are and why they were set that way.

26. Using Progress Monitoring Data when Developing IEP’s The IEP team can transform the student’s average initial scores on CBM tests into an IEP statement of present level of performance. Because neither test administration nor scoring procedures differ and because the difficulty level of the tests remains the same over time, CBM scores can be compared across testing occasions. Current performance can be compared to subsequent performance later in the year. Thus, present level of performance can be written in the same fashion as a measurable, long-term goal that includes the learner behavior and conditions or stimulus materials. However, instead of projecting what constitutes student mastery, present performance merely describes the student’s current level of attainment in an academic area affected by student disability. When the IEP team knows how children typically read or perform mathematics calculations at particular ages or grades, the present level of performance written with CBM data also suggests how substantially the disability affects student performance in that academic area. The IEP team can transform the student’s average initial scores on CBM tests into an IEP statement of present level of performance. Because neither test administration nor scoring procedures differ and because the difficulty level of the tests remains the same over time, CBM scores can be compared across testing occasions. Current performance can be compared to subsequent performance later in the year. Thus, present level of performance can be written in the same fashion as a measurable, long-term goal that includes the learner behavior and conditions or stimulus materials. However, instead of projecting what constitutes student mastery, present performance merely describes the student’s current level of attainment in an academic area affected by student disability. When the IEP team knows how children typically read or perform mathematics calculations at particular ages or grades, the present level of performance written with CBM data also suggests how substantially the disability affects student performance in that academic area.

28. Determining Short Term Objectives Write a statement regarding what the student is expected to accomplish each week if the student is to meet their annual performance goal in the specified timeframe. To calculate short-term objective Subtract present level of performance (34 WRC) from desired performance level (107 WRC) 107-34 = 73 Divide this number (73) by the number of weeks in the targeted timeframe (36 weeks) 36/73 = 2 In order to meet his annual performance goal Sam would be expected to increase his oral reading fluency by 2 words read correct per week. Short Term Objective: Each week, when given 3rd grade level passages, Sam will at an average increase of 2 words read correctly with no increase in errors.