Educating young minds can be a hard job – and teachers deserve all the help they can get.

Student progress monitoring tools are a useful part of any teacher’s toolkit, whether you’re teaching in general education or special education classrooms. 

These research-based tools utilize student data to create an individualized plan for each student. This helps them to stay on track with the state’s current curriculum.

If you’ve been contemplating adding a student progress monitoring tool to your classroom, you're in the right place. This article will go over the most popular options. It will also discuss how progress monitoring data can positively impact students and the overall classroom experience.

What is progress monitoring data and how does it work?

Before diving into the types of tools that are available, it’s important to understand what exactly progress monitoring data is.

Progress monitoring is the process of consistently collecting and evaluating data points about student performance. This data is then measured against standards to ensure that students are on track to meet certain goals.

Following the data in real-time can help teachers to change up their lesson plans or make other instructional decisions to better fit the needs of their students. It can also assist in identifying students that may need additional support. 

As professor of school psychology, Dr. Edward Shapiro, outlined: progress monitoring can be used to create instructional groups, identify specific skill deficits, screen students for potential early school failure and evaluate the reintegration process for students moving from special to general education settings.

To begin progress monitoring, you would give a formative assessment to all your students to get a benchmark for their current skills, knowledge and achievement levels.

Progress monitoring can also be incredibly helpful for students with learning disabilities. It allows the student to be compared to their own starting point instead of where their peers are at. 

And with just a glance at the data, a teacher can know if the student is making positive progress towards their goals or encountering roadblocks in their learning.

6 Examples of data-based progress monitoring in the classroom

There are a few different ways that teachers can monitor student learning progress in the classroom. 

Examples of student progress monitoring include: 

• Response to Intervention
• Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
• Individualized Education Programs
• Curriculum-Based Measurement
• Computer Adaptive Tests
• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Regardless of what subject or age you teach, there is a tool that can work for your classroom. 

In addition to tracking student achievement, progress monitoring tools can be used to address behavioral challenges in the classroom.

Response to intervention (RTI)

Response to Intervention, or RTI, is a system of support put in place to provide students with the tools they need to succeed in school.

Within this system, students are broken down into three tiers of support:

• Tier 1: Students receive instruction from the core curriculum.
• Tier 2: Students are below their grade level and require instruction in small groups.
• Tier 3: Students need individualized support and are unresponsive to tier 1 & tier 2 instruction.

While the majority of students will fall into tier 1, the students in tiers 2 and 3 will require additional support throughout the school year. This system helps teachers make a game plan at the beginning of the year and know what extra help or resources each student may need.  

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS)

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS, is a system used to support students that exhibit behavioral issues in the classroom. PBIS is an approach that is primarily focused on the prevention of negative behavior instead of using punishment after negative behavior has occurred.

This research-based approach is used to guide students towards positive behavior, meet certain behavioral expectations and function well in the classroom.

PBIS focuses heavily on providing clear behavioral expectations throughout the school day to ensure all students can understand and meet them.

Individualized education programs (IEP)

Individualized education programs, or IEPs, are a progress monitoring tool used to support academic growth. IEPs are primarily used in special education classrooms but can also be found in general education as well.

IEPS are legal documents written in a very specific way to lay out a program of special education instruction for an individual student.

IEPs will ensure that a student is receiving the necessary support and accommodations they need throughout the school year.

For many educators, IEPs can be challenging, especially if you're new to writing them. Get tips on how to create an IEP for your students below or check out our article on 9Powerful Ways to Lead a Successful IEP Meeting for extra support!

Computer adaptive tests (CAT)

Computer Adaptive Tests (CAT) are used to measure a student’s academic progress. This tool is assessment-based and adapts based on a student’s previous answers. While the assessments are short, the adaptation in real-time provides an accurate picture of where the student is at. 

An example of this adaptation would be if a student gets a question correct, the difficulty will continue to increase. However, if a student gets an answer wrong, the difficulty will stay the same level or be reduced.

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM)

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a popular option to measure student development in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics. This progress monitoring tool uses very short assessments to track students’ progression over time. 

These 1 to 5 minute assessments cover multiple topics. The results are added to a single progress monitoring chart. From that chart, teachers will be able to see exactly well how students are progressing and ensure that everyone in their classroom is on track with the curriculum.

If you already use performance-based assessments in your classroom, this method may be a good fit.

Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)

The Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) approach is used to monitor progress and create both academic and behavioral strategies for students. This approach combines tactics from both RTI and PBIS.

MTSS utilizes a proactive approach to identify students with behavioral and academic needs. Much like the RTI system, MTSS will divide students into 3 different tiers:

• Tier 1: Proactive classroom students
• Tier 2: Small group support students
• Tier 3: Individualized support students

These divisions allow teachers to provide the right support to each individual student and help them to meet their individualized learning goals. This includes non-academic support, like planning social emotional learning activities or regular parent teacher conferences.

Source

A growing body of research in publications such as the Journal of Applied School Psychology, International Journal of Serious Games, The Journal of Special Education, Computers & Education and The Psychological Record continue to show how technology in your math classroom can:

• Provide immediate feedback to both you and your students
• Provide progress monitoring at individual and class-wide levels
• Give you accurate data to help you make instructional decisions and improve student learning

Opportunities for immediate feedback

In a study published in School Psychology Review, researchers Jim Ysseldyke and Daniel Bolt examined the effects a progress monitoring system had on math test performance for 2,202 students from 3rd to 10th grade.

Over one semester, teachers set curriculum-aligned questions for their students. Students and teachers both received immediate feedback on student performance. Whenever students struggled with certain assignments, the system alerted teachers and provided them with information for differentiated instruction.

Ysseldyke and Bolt found that compared to students who did not experience the progress monitoring system, those who did had significantly more gains in the end-of-semester test. 

For example, 3rd and 4th grade students who received immediate feedback and differentiated instruction had 14% more gains.

Access to real-time data

Progress monitoring technology can provide real-time data that allows for immediate feedback in a way traditional pencil-and-paper assignments cannot. In addition to improving learning outcomes for all types of students, a progress monitoring tool gives students a sense of control during the learning process for two reasons:

1. Real-time feedback lets them know if their answers are correct.
2. If they didn’t answer correctly the first time, it provides them an opportunity to try again.

Ability to differentiate instruction

The ability to detect students who may struggle with general class instruction (or find it not challenging enough) is another major benefit of progress monitoring. A study of 100 gifted and talented students between 3rd and 6th grade illustrates why:

For one semester, researchers assigned 48 students to a classroom equipped with progress monitoring technology and 52 to a classroom that used traditional teaching methods. Students completed a pre-test before any implementations began, along with a post-test.

There was no difference in the students’ pre-test scores. After one semester, however, students in the progress monitoring group had significantly higher post-test scores than those who experienced traditional teaching methods.

Because students had received immediate feedback throughout the semester, they could learn at their own pace. Teachers were also able to adapt to their students’ skill levels and differentiate instruction.

Progress monitoring tools: Frequently asked questions

Do all students require progress monitoring tools?

This question is dependent on where and who you’re teaching, but in general, not all students require progress monitoring tools.  In most general education classrooms, you may have only a few individual students who may benefit from utilizing progress monitoring measures.

However, special education teachers may find that most of their students will benefit from a more detailed progress monitoring process. 

Since all of their students are likely at different levels, these tools help them track student performance throughout the school year more effectively.

What is the best way to track the rate of improvement for individual students?

There’s not one right answer here! 

Depending on what subject you teach, which tool you use and just your personal preferences, you can track improvement rates in a number of ways. 

Some teachers utilize spreadsheets or pen and paper to track improvements, while others prefer more high-tech methods. 

Whatever works for you and your students is what’s best to use. 

It can be helpful to have weekly or biweekly check-ins with your students to help both of you see the data, understand what it means and keep moving forward.

Are progress monitoring tools effective for a variety of different learners?

Since progress monitoring tools are meant to help teachers meet student needs and gauge the effectiveness of instruction, they can be especially effective for teaching a variety of learners. 

Progress monitoring tools are completely customizable. They allow you the freedom to tweak them to fit your students’ needs. 

And the better you understand each of your student’s learning styles, the easier it will be to create the most effective progress monitoring system. This, in turn, will also help with effective goal-setting for each of your students.

What grade levels benefit most from utilizing progress monitoring tools?

All grade levels will benefit from using progress monitoring tools to meet their academic goals. You may find that certain tools, though, are better for different ages. 

However, it’s important to remember that not every individual student will require the use of academic progress monitoring.

What are your best tips for using progress monitoring?

There are three factors teachers must be conscious of for differentiated instruction to be as effective as possible:

1. Take a proactive approach -- Plan lessons that account for student differences.
2. Be flexible with small learning groups -- Research suggests students in small learning groups have significantly higher levels of academic achievement than those not in groups.
3. Align educational materials and pace lessons according to your student needs -- Before assigning the same questions and advancing the curriculum at the same rate for your entire class, first consider each student’s academic readiness and learning style.

Create an engaging learning environment for your students

If you’ve found that other tools, like anchor charts, work well in your classroom, adding a progress monitoring tool may be a great next step. There are so many different types and methods to choose from that you are sure to find one that works for you and your students. 

If you're looking for a tool that lets you track and monitor progress, while also engaging your students, try Prodigy! Available at no cost for teachers and schools, Prodigy gives students in 1st to 8th grade fun, adaptive skill practice in math and English.

Prodigy provides students immediate feedback on their answers. Students are immediately given another opportunity to solve the problem — at their own pace — if their first answer was unsuccessful.

It also stores and synthesizes real-time data, generating comprehensive reports that provide an overview of class performance and individual student progress. These reports enable you to track learning progress and implement differentiated instruction in a timely manner.

Want to learn more about game-based learning? Check our full Literature Review here.