That's the real power, right, is that that data is letting us course correct quickly instead of waiting until three months, six months, twelve months down the road.
And we're like, oh, Maybe that wasn't working the way I thought it was.
Hi, and welcome back to the smarter literacy podcast from ascend's smarter intervention.
But we simplify effective literacy instruction so every student gets what they need.
And every educator gets to breathe a little easier.
I'm Lindsey.
And I'm Corey, and today we're talking about one of our favorite topics.
Progress monitoring.
I know that might sound super exciting at first.
Maybe not so much.
Hang with us.
This is really important because it is what gives us the proof that what we're working on and what we're doing with our students is actually working and actually moving students forward.
And I think the keyword there is proof.
Progress monitoring is how we know whether the plan we've designed for a student is actually working or if we need to adjust.
Without it, we're kind of teaching in the dark.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So today, we're gonna share some of our favorite tips and tools to make progress monitoring easier, more effective, and less overwhelming.
So let's start at the beginning.
Corey, why is progress monitoring so critical? Yeah.
So you mentioned this a little bit before, and I think the short answer is that if we don't measure, we don't know.
Right? So we can feel like a lesson went really well.
But without the data, we're relying on impressions, and progress monitoring is giving us the evidence of whether students are actually moving forward, staying stuck, or even regressing.
I know I've definitely had students where in both ways.
I felt like they're doing so great.
Everything is awesome.
And I actually go back and look at their progress monitoring data.
I'm like, oh, maybe even not so much.
And then I have other students that I'm like, oh, I just don't think this is sticking at all.
This isn't working And I look at their progress monitoring data, and I'm like, oh, no.
Actually, things are going well.
So I think it's just really helpful in knowing what's working and what's not.
Absolutely.
And I'll add this that it also helps us catch things early.
So if we only check things every few months, we might realize too late that a student has been making the growth that we're looking for.
And I know this is something that I was guilty of at the beginning of my career, and it just it doesn't help you as an educator move forward either.
I think it's one of those things where we almost see it as a checklist.
Oh, I need to do this at this specific interval, or I need to do this at some point in the future.
And really what we wanna be doing is using that information to inform each of our lessons.
So it's like I kinda wanna know after each of my lessons, how did that go? What worked? What didn't? So that I can tweak the next one? And I think that's the real power, right, is that that data is letting us course correct quickly instead of waiting until three months, six months, twelve months down the road, and we're like, oh, maybe that wasn't working the way I thought it was.
Okay.
So let's clear something up.
When we say progress monitoring, what exactly do we mean? That's a great question.
So progress monitoring is the process of collecting data at regular intervals to measure how a student is responding to intervention.
So it's not just that end of year testing or formal assessments.
It's that ongoing snapshot over and over that's gonna tell us if students are moving toward their goals.
So it is different from screening or initial assessment.
Screening tells us where to start progress monitoring helps us answer the question.
Are we on the right track? Exactly.
And it should be tied to specific goals.
So for example, if a student's working on decoding multisyllable words, then progress monitoring should give us data about their accuracy with that specific skill over time, or we have a student who's struggling specifically with comprehension, we might have a specific comprehension skill that we're monitoring.
You know, are they able to identify a main idea? And we're tracking that skill over time.
Okay.
So let's talk about the practical side.
How do we actually progress monitoring during an intervention.
Yeah.
This is a great question.
I think first of all, you wanna make sure that you have tools that are going to give you quick usable data.
So for example, If you're looking at phonics skills coming back to multi syllable reading, for example, you could look at word lists.
And that's a favorite of mine for checking accuracy with specific phonics patterns, syllable types, word types, or you could be looking at fluency passages, which are another great option because from a fluency passage, you could look at both rate and accuracy.
So, you know, for example, how many correct words per minute is a student reading and how accurate we're where they with that reading.
So those fluency passages can be super helpful.
You can also tack on comprehending questions to that as well to start to see, alright.
Well, then how are they comprehending off of the passages that they're reading.
And so those are really quick ways to do that.
I know in our intervention sessions, we will track fluency specifically.
So how are students doing with a specific passage every single time? And then we're also asking those questions ins because it's just a really easy data point to be able to quickly see how are we doing with specific skills? Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And word lesson groups is great because you can give each student a different list.
Progress monitor for each of the students at the same time, and it makes data collection really efficient.
So, yeah, really anything you can do for efficiency.
And like you said, kind of just making sure we're getting kind of the full picture of our students.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And I think, you know, one of the pieces that's really important here is that we want what's called binary data points wherever possible.
So what this means is that we want to be able to measure based off of a yes, no question.
So for example, if I asked a student to read a word, did they read it correctly? Yes or no? If yes, I'm giving them a plus and if no, I'm giving them a minus on my data tracking sheet, And this way, I can start to tally that up into a tangible score or grade almost, if you will.
I mean, it's really important because otherwise, when we're relying on observational data, we're like, oh, they seem to be doing really well.
I have particular students, and I hate to say this, but I think it's true for all of us.
I don't I at least hope I hope that it is.
I hope I'm not the only one, but I have some students that are just lovely.
They're just so free.
And I'm like, they're doing so awesome.
They're doing so fantastic.
And then when I actually look at their data, I'm like, oh, they're really not getting this concept, but because I just love them so much, I feel like they're doing great.
And then on the flip side, I have other students who are hard.
They're difficult students.
I'm like, this is just not working at all.
They're, again, like I said earlier, they're not making any progress.
I look at the data, I'm like, no, actually, they are getting this.
This is working for them.
So I think having that binary system where you're looking at, did they get it right or not? Yes or no? There's no subjectivity here.
It is very objective.
Can be really helpful.
It's really what you need when you're progress monitoring.
I have to agree with that.
I think every single human is built with bias, and that's just we can't escape it, and because I know I've fallen into the same trap as well.
So, yeah, having that clear cut, yes, no, and did they get it is what really makes this work.
And truly is the easiest way, especially since teachers often have multiple students that they're seeing at once.
And so if you are working with a group, or even you just have a lot of kids in your caseload, using that plus minus can really help you track that information and that data a lot easier and a lot more authentically, I want to say.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And I think too, it's gonna help you to be able to share that information out with people more effectively too.
So I know whenever I'm in a meeting with a parent or I'm at an IEP meeting or something like that.
I wanna be able to have something that really is tangible and objective.
And that way, you can take some of the emotion out of it because I think otherwise, you know, we've talked about this a little bit in the past, but it's easy to make the data mean something about you, um, and And I think that's just important when we have that plus minus, we can take all of that out and it's not well.
I'm working on this, and I think this is working.
And so I think my instruction is is helping the student and you're having these conversations, you can just say, This is what the data is showing me right now, and I don't have to get into my thoughts or my feelings about the instruction.
Right.
Which I have to say it's easy to do because we're very caring for our students and we want what we do to work.
Anyway, so moving on, the second piece is gonna be structuring your lessons in a way that makes data collection easy.
So if you are following a consistent flow in your lessons, so for example, you're doing a phonological awareness activity, then you're moving into a phonics based activity, vocabulary support, fluency, and comprehension, then every step has a natural data point, and we're monitoring how students are doing on each of those skills.
So for example, in our lessons, we always follow a really clear framework every single time.
We're gonna follow a very similar flow of our lessons.
And so if we start our lesson with an eight or a 10 part phonological awareness drill, we can monitor how many responses were correct out of the total number of questions that we asked that particular student.
So we're always getting that phonological awareness data because we're always starting our lesson in the same way.
Then we move on to a sound drill, and we can look at how many sounds were the student able to provide correctly? How many words were they able to read correctly? Were they able to identify nonsense words? What did their reading fluency look like? Could they answer the comprehension questions? Did they spell the words correctly? Did they use appropriate mechanics in their sentences and so on? And because the lesson's always structured in the same way, you can always collect data in the same way.
So that makes life so much easier because every time you have a new lesson format or, oh, I provided this totally new lesson, you're thinking, well, how do I track this? How do I make this binary? How do I know if this student did well or not? Exactly.
And I'll say too once the students get used to the structure, they transition so much more smoothly, easier.
Right? And they know what's coming, and it becomes second nature for both of us.
Absolutely.
And I think that's where that data piece becomes really helpful is that when you're not thinking about how the lesson is structured or what the lesson looks like, it makes it easier to start tracking that progress over time because you're in such a flow that it's so much easier to be able to say, okay, plus minus, plus minus, because I know what the questions I'm going to ask are.
And so I also have that consistency over time.
So one of the things that we've done that I think has been super helpful is we've made sure that our data sheets or our progress monitoring sheets mirror our lesson flow.
So it's almost like a checklist too.
I almost use it that way in my sessions of have I hit everything? I have my progress monitoring sheet that I'm working through, which is almost the same as my lesson planning.
Outline because I just know, alright, did I hit this? Did I hit this? Did I hit this? And sometimes, I know Mikaela mentioned, which was super helpful for me at one point, was that she said, yeah, sometimes what I'll do is I'll just highlight before a session.
Some of the specific skills that I know a student is struggling with based on my last kind of assessment for them so that I make sure I don't forget or I don't leave that particular piece of the lesson out for that particular student.
So I think that can be helpful too.
It's just drawing your own attention to what they need.
Absolutely.
And my biggest advice on progress monitoring and, like, collecting that data is really don't make it complicated.
Really truly, like you said, have a checklist.
Our progress monitoring is basically that checklist for our lesson.
Or like a simple note system, whatever works for you that makes it quick and easy to collect the data when you're with your students, because you don't wanna be going back later and being like, what did I mean by this, or did I actually do this part? Right? So don't try to make it super complicated for yourself.
Just it can be as easy as plus or minus check or x, right, whatever it needs to be.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And I that's such a great point.
I think you make a great point too of whatever works for you also, I think.
I've gone back and forth with different systems and things like that.
And so I think it even if it is, hey, I'm gonna do this on a sticky note, that's fine.
As long as you know, this is the structure, this is what I'm always doing, then it's fine.
You don't need to make this some super complicated page of all these things you're trying to track.
So before we wrap up, let's talk about mistakes because we both been there.
And, Corey, so what's one mistake you've made? While progress monitoring.
Oh my gosh.
There are so many.
But honestly, I think the biggest one was just not being consistent.
So even coming back to what I was just saying is that early on, I would track data one way for one student and a different way for a different student.
And then it was really a nightmare to compare or make decisions because even from week to week, I might have tracked that differently.
And so then I was like, well, how do I take all of this information and make it meaningful now? Because I was doing this over here.
I was doing that over there.
It just it it didn't all align, and so I wasn't able to compare week to week.
And so having one system, we have massive difference.
Right.
Well, and I can definitely relate to that.
I know that I was there.
And I think for me, one of the biggest mistakes was it was writing goals that actually weren't specific enough.
And so I'd sit down to collect the data and realize I didn't even really know what I was measuring or really what I was chose looking for.
So kinda going back to that, don't make it complicated.
I was in a spot where I was making it complicated, and therefore I never collected real good data.
Well, and I think that's so easy to do because I think especially when you have lessons where, for example, you know, alright, my students need to work on main idea.
So I wanna do a main idea lesson, and I'm just trying to write notes down about how it went.
And then you're trying to think back later to, well, how do I kind of objectify that into what we would call an operational definition of what success looked like can be so hard.
And so I know I've done that too, and especially in the beginning, I would use kind of templates of like, what does a good goal look like? And I would see things like, okay.
You know, the student will read 70% of unfamiliar words in two out of three trials.
And I was like, great.
This is super objective.
I can move forward with this.
But then I would be like, wait, what is unfamiliar? Does that mean nonsense words? Wait.
Does that mean that they have never seen this word before? How do I know if they've seen this word before? How do I know if it's unfamiliar? And I started asking myself all of these questions.
And so what I realized was Okay.
I need to have goals that are very clear that I understand what it means.
And also if I'm writing that out in an IEP or in our case, you know, in a treatment plan, that a family would also know what that means.
So that other people could say, oh, Alright.
This particular child's goal or the thing that's gonna be progress monitored is that they can decode multisyllabic words consisting of all six syllable types.
We're all clear on that.
So if we've got another teacher or interventionist in a different setting, measuring the same thing, they should foreseeably get the same results that I'm getting.
And so just having those really clear identified goals will help us to be able to progress monitor more effectively.
So even coming back to phonological awareness, Alright.
We're gonna be able to demonstrate 90% accuracy across blending, segmenting, identification manipulation, because I'm hitting a 10 part drill in my lessons, I know I'm gonna be able to monitor that.
Because I know that's what I'm teaching.
And so that's what I want them to be able to improve their skill in.
Right.
Well, another one and like I mentioned before, but another mistake that I've made is waiting too long to look at the data.
Again, I was checking it every few months.
And if you do that, you you really are missing opportunities to adjust your lessons correctly for that student.
Right? If you're not really targeting the skills that they need and those strategies that you need to teach them, you're kind of running into, oh, I should have been doing this all along and, oh, no.
Then you and you feel horrible and kinda like that, like, that almost like that failure piece.
Right? So That's another big mistake that I run into.
Exactly.
Any that's such a great point.
And data is the most powerful when you use it frequently and in that way.
I know in, you know, a previous episode, I mentioned it's kind of like your GPS And so if you realize that you have now gone miles and miles and miles in the wrong direction, that's super frustrating.
And you feel like, oh my gosh.
I've wasted all this time.
Uh, now I need to correct, and now it might even take longer to back in the direction that I wanted to go.
And so, again, thinking about your progress monitoring data as that GPS so that constant check-in of, wait, did I make a wrong turn, or do we need to do anything to get back on track? And Again, not making that mean anything about you.
It's just, hey, this instruction for whatever reason wasn't landing for this particular student, so we might need to make some adjustment.
Right.
Are there any other mistakes that we wanna talk about? I mean, I think there's probably so many, right, and not to say that this is because because we do it terribly, but I think it's just a big concept to be considering.
And I think with progress monitoring, it's one of those pieces where we often feel like, okay, but if I'm constantly progress monitoring, then I'm taking away time from my lesson.
And so I think one of the last mistakes, well, not the last mistake, but the last one that's coming to mind right now that I made was that I used to think, okay, I'm going to progress monitor on this specific day, and that is my progress monitoring day.
Mhmm.
And so I would sort of take that as well, this is a testing day.
And so it would take away from my instructional time.
And really what we've tried to move to is just making that a part of the lessons themselves as opposed to a separate event in that, oh, today's progress monitoring day, so we're not doing any of our instructional teaching.
Mhmm.
Even when we're doing more formal standardized testing and things like that, we're trying to weave that into our session so that we can continue providing our ongoing instruction and that it doesn't feel like the assessment or the data tracking is taking away from instructional time.
So I think that's maybe one potential mistake is is making it its own thing where you feel like you can't also be teaching the student at that time because then you're like, oh, I'm doing this tug of war of monitoring progress or instructing.
And so I think that was a mistake that I made at least in the beginning for sure.
No.
And I I know a lot of that's a lot of teachers or schools, even I remember when I was soon teaching and I was in a school, Fridays.
We're always progress monitoring day.
So we didn't meet with our groups, but we went around, and we pulled the kids from class, and we a progress monitor only on Fridays.
And it just felt a little disjointed, even even then, but I was still new to my career and still learning.
So I was thinking, oh, this is just, you know, how it's done.
This is this is how you progress monitor, which kind of led into, you know, my own teaching.
And eventually me realizing, no.
This isn't this isn't what I want.
This isn't working.
I need to create a better system.
And I would say, I think just for a lot of teachers and schools, progress monitoring, it's it's a bit of a learning curve, learning how to do that.
While you're also giving instruction and to, again, do it in a way that's effective, it it's a little bit of a juggling act.
And it it takes some time.
So, like, if you are noticing any of those mistakes that we've mentioned, and you're kinda thinking like, oh, I do that right now.
Don't be hard on yourself.
Like, it's all a learning process.
We all do this, and you're you're gonna figure your system out.
You really are.
Absolutely.
And that's a good point too.
And if you do have a system in which you are progress monitoring on a specific and that does seem to be working for you and you feel like you're getting the data that you need and it's not pulling away from your instruction, then that's awesome too.
Feel free to continue doing what's working for you.
But if it's not working for you, if you're feeling like uh, this is really feeling like a tug or it's feeling disjointed or it's feeling like I'm getting sometimes I say if I'm feeling a grinding feeling in any way that I know something needs to shift, something's not working.
And so if you're not feeling a grinding feeling, then just keep on with what you're doing.
That's amazing.
But if something's like, oh, I feel like there could be a better way.
There likely is, so it's just thinking about what would work for me.
And for me specifically, it was, how can I make progress monitoring a part of every lesson? So again, coming back to if I'm teaching a specific phonogram pattern, and I'm going to have a student read a fluency passage.
I'm just going to progress monitor her on that particular passage.
I'm not gonna pull a separate thing altogether.
I'll just use the lesson data.
And if I'm trying to track on multiple students, I'll just rotate who I'm tracking on in any given day.
So, for example, maybe on Monday, I'm tracking on student a and on Tuesday, I'm tracking on student b, and I'm just starting to rotate that way so that I'm getting consistent data on everyone, but we're just using the lessons.
We're not using a whole separate a whole separate assessment process here.
At least not for progress monitoring.
I think that's different than like you said, for your initial screening, or for your formal assessments.
Obviously, we need to do that too.
But for our ongoing progress monitoring, we don't wanna be testing more than word teaching.
Right.
Social recap, progress monitoring matters because it shows us if students are really making growth.
It's not complicated.
It's about collecting consistent data tied to clear goals, using tools like word list, influency passages, and setting up lessons, so tracking is built in.
Absolutely.
And avoiding those common mistakes, so all the ones that I know I've made being inconsistent or writing vague goals that you don't really know what it means.
I've done that more often than I care to admit, or just waiting too long to analyze the data at all so that you can't really use it to redirect will start to make the process so much smoother.
So again, if you're feeling some of that grinding or something feels like it's not working, just starting to lean into what does it look like to have clear measurable goals that I can just start to track within a lesson itself.
So if you are ready to get started, grab our free data tracking printable in the show notes.
It's designed to follow your lesson flow so you can track progress without losing instructional time.
And if you wanna go even deeper, We have a spotlight PD all about how to create soar aligned goals and track data.
Yes.
And stay tuned for our next episode where we'll dig into what to do when those progress monitoring scores aren't moving the way we want them to.
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