Progress Monitoring

1
Section 2 Curriculum-Based Measurement
and Writing Individualized
RTI or IEP Goals.

• Progress Monitoring
• and Goal Writing

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Progress Monitoring

• Research has demonstrated that when teachers use
  formative evaluation progress monitoring for
  instructional decision-making purposes
• students achieve more
• teacher decision making improves
• students tend to be more aware of their
  performance
• (e.g., see Fuchs, Deno, Mirkin, 1984 L. S.
  Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Ferguson, 1992 L. S.
  Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Stecker, 1991 Stecker,
  Fuchs, Fuchs, 2005)

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Progress Monitoring Tools

• Used to monitor progress from one year to the
  next
• Sensitive to effects of an intervention
• Can be used regardless of curriculum (e.g.
  Harcourt, Scott Foresman)
• Useful to inform teaching
• Quick to administer easy to score
• Provides instant data to graph
• Easily understood by teachers and parents

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What is CBM?

• Curriculum-based measurement, or CBM, is a method
  of monitoring student progress through direct
  assessment of academic skills.
• CBM can be used to measure basic skills in
  reading, mathematics, spelling, and written
  expression.
• Instructor gives the student brief, timed
  samples, or "probes," made up of academic
  material taken from grade-level curriculum.
• Performance on a CBM probe is scored for speed,
  or fluency, and for accuracy of performance.

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CBM covers

• Reading (Early Literacy skills, Reading Fluency
  and Comprehension)
• Math (Early Numeracy skills, Math Computation/
  Basic Math facts)
• Writing (Spelling and Written Expression)
• Probes contain a mixture of problems that
  represent skills to be mastered by the end of the
  year
• NOT like traditional mastery/chapter tests

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Previous Goal-Setting Strategies

• Use data from standardized achievement tests
  like WIAT-II, WJ-III ACH
• Use data from Mastery Tests (e.g. chapter tests)
• Refer to state standards
• Use a sample goal-bank
• Suggestions on classroom observation of skills
  (subjective)

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Pitfalls of Previous Strategies

• Standardized Tests (WIAT-II, WJ-ACH)
• Lack of alternate forms
• Less sensitive to short-term gains
• Reliance on age or grade equivalents ? accurate
• Ex. Students with 1 year delay typically not
  considered significantly discrepant from their
  peers, and may not qualify for special education.
• Mastery tests do not reflect maintenance or
  generalization of skills over the course of the
  school year
• Little guidance in selecting goals from state
  standards/ goal-banks
• No consistent evaluation tool to measure goals
  written from standards or goal banks!

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Pitfalls, continued

• Examples of Previous Goals/Objectives
• Student will perform spelling skills at 3rd
  grade level.
• Student will master basic math facts with 80
  accuracy.
• Student will read 1 story per week.
• Student will read aloud with 80 accuracy and
  80 comprehension.
• Little research supports that these types of
  goals relate to improved educational outcomes.
• Difficult to consistently measure over time.
• Tendency to write un-ambitious goals in hopes
  that student will show some progress over the
  year.

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To improve our goal writing

• Remember goals are statements about the power or
  impact of our instructional programs.
• Goals need to be more clearly defined.
• Identify specific skills deficits through
  universal screening measures using CBM.
• Target a few, but important goals and objectives.
• Ensure goals are measurable and linked to
  validated progress monitoring approaches.

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CBM to write IEP and RTI goals

• CBM scores from Universal Screenings are easily
  translated into goals for RTI intervention and
  IEPs.
• Using CBM to write goals lets us accurately
  compare performance later in the year because
• Test administration of CBM is consistent (and
  quick!)
• Scoring procedures are consistent
• Difficulty level of test is always consistent

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RTI Who needs a goal?

• A desirable goal for all students is to achieve a
  score at or above the 50thile on the Universal
  Screenings (Fall/Winter/ Spring).
• WOVSED recommends that students below the
  25thile are considered At-Risk.
• Use AIMSweb site to schedule PM.
• Students who perform in between the 25th and
  50thiles may need Strategic Monitoring.
• Consider monitoring these students, just less
  often.
• Option to do this through AIMSweb site.

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Level of Intervention and Monitoring Frequency
Tier 3
Tier 2
Tier 1
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Components of our Goals

• Current/Present Level of Performance
• What the student is currently able to do in the
  targeted area.
• Taken from Fall, Winter, Spring Universal
  Screenings
• Works with whatever CBM tool you are using
  (DIBELS/AIMSweb, etc).
• Intervention Goal/Annual Goals and Objectives
• Growth anticipated for specific time period
• Should be ambitious
• Must be specific
• Must be measurable

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Example of Current Levels Statement
Students Score
50th ile score
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IEPs Annual Goals

• CBM probes represent a range of skills to be
  mastered by the end of the year.
• CBM-based annual goals are easily understood by
  parents.

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Annual Goal-Line
X
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Not at Grade Level?

• Universal screening data does not always reflect
  accurate measurement of skills.
• In some cases, Universal Screening data show
  that grade-level passages are too frustrating
  for some students.
• What do we do to get a better understanding of a
  students current performance level?

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Survey Level Assessment (SLA)

• Process to determine Current Performance Levels
  when student is not working at grade level.
• Can be used for RTI or IEP purposes.
• Student is tested in successive levels, beginning
  with current grade placement, until he/she scores
  anywhere within the Average range.
• Create SLA table, using Aggregate Norm Tables.
  Find score at or above the 25thile for the
  particular grade and time of year.
• Scoring anywhere within the Green on AIMSweb
  Individual or Comparison reports.

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Create Survey Level Assessment Table

• Sally is a 4th grade student who was tested in
  the Fall.
• Use AIMSweb Aggregate Growth Tables (next slide).

Using Survey Level Assessment, Sallys
performance is Average given a 3rd grade AIMSWEB
R-CBM probe (Fall).
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(No Transcript)
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Using AIMSweb Individual or Comparison
Reports Box Plots
Fourth Quartile (75th 100thile)
¼ of scores Above Average
¼ of scores
Average
Second Quartile (25th-49th ile)
¼ of scores
¼ of scores Below Average
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John5th grader5th grade passage 26/12
John4th grade passage49/7
John3rd grade passage62/4
Conducting a Survey Level Assessment
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Guidelines for administering SLA probes

• Administer probes from successive grade-levels,
  beginning at the students current grade
  placement or one year above the students
  functioning level.
• Reading-CBM Use median score of 3 probes.
• Rule of Thumb on R-CBM If WRC is 20 or fewer,
  stop administering probes on this level and move
  one level below.
• (For middle/high school students, suggested
  starting point is 6th grade passages. Survey
  levels higher or lower as needed).

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Creating the Goal 5-Steps

• Step 1. Document Current/Present Levels of
  Performance
• Sallys Current Performance on a 4th grade
  AIMSweb R-CBM probe is 51 Words Read Correctly,
  while the expected performance level is 103 Words
  Read Correctly (50thile Target).
• Using Survey Level Assessment, Sallys
  performance is Average for Fall when given a 3rd
  Grade AIMSweb R-CBM probe.

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Creating the Goal

• Step 2. Decide how you will determine the desired
  goal level.
• Two options
• Use Benchmark scores
• Compared to School/District
• Relate to High-Stakes Tests
• Use Norms
• Percentile (and associated score)
• Growth Rates/ Rates of Improvement (ROI)

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Benchmark Options

• Benchmark for success on some outcome measure,
  (ex. 71 WRC/min.) Correlates from high-stakes
  testing.

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Norms

• Percentiles and corresponding score
• Students at the 25thile (lower end of the
  Average range) read 81WRC/min.

81WRC/min
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Growth Rates (Rate of Improvement/ ROI)

• How much growth students make in a weeks time.
  (ROI for students whose scores are entered into
  AIMSweb)
• Formula to determine how much growth you would
  like to see in a specific amount of time.
• Goal ________________________________
• Current Performance Level
• (___________________ X ____________________)
• weeks until goal reviewed Growth Rate
  (use chart)

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Growth Rates (Rate of Improvement)

• Ex. 3rd grader Bens median R-CBM score 35.
• 12 weeks until the end of the school year.
• Team would like to see Ben make progress at a
  similar rate to his peers (1.0 words/week).
• 35WRC/min (12wks x 1.0) 47WRC/min
• This is the goal by the end of the year!

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Benchmark, Norm or Growth Rate?

• Are you more concerned with a specific outcome
  (i.e. on high-stakes tests), or how one student
  performs compared to a population of others
  (local or national?)
• Are you working with a student with a
  well-documented learning style?
• Using the Rate of Improvement is not always
  ambitious
• Based on progress made by students in general ed.
  classroom who are NOT receiving additional
  intervention.
• Point of RTI is to help kids catch up
• ROI will never be help students catch up because
  they will be learning at the same pace as
  students receiving no intervention students
  receiving intervention need to learn at a faster
  pace.

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Setting the Goal Level

• Step 3. Team decides what an appropriate goal
  will be!
• Be ambitious! Select the level that you want to
  see the student achieve within a specific amount
  of time.
• Research has shown that ambitious goals can lead
  to better student achievement
• How ambitious you are should depend on
• How often you can feasibly provide services
• How confident you are in the power of your
  instructional programs and resources

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Selecting Length of Time

• Step 4 Team must determine how much time to
  allow until the goal can be feasibly reached.
• RTI goals written to reflect length of
  intervention
• Depends on how long interventionist needs to
  effectively teach skill.
• Individualized based on student need.
• Depends on how often you will progress monitor.
• Need 7-9 data points to plot a trend-line.
• IEPs
• Will have an annual goal (apx. 36 weeks) and
  short-term objectives.

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Suggestions for Writing Objectives

• Annual goal - Minus current performance
• / Divided by number of weeks between baseline and
  goal
• Short term / Weekly objective.

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Writing the Goal

• Step 5 Write goal into a standard format.
• Same/similar format can be used for RTI/IEP
  goals.
• Facilitates process of goal-writing.
• Easily understood by general, special and
  remedial teachers.
• Can be used for any deficit area pertinent to a
  Specific Learning Disability
• Basic reading, reading fluency, reading
  comprehension, math calculation, math reasoning,
  written expression.

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Sample RTI Goal Written w/AIMSwebEarly
Literacy Goal (Kindergartener) Current
Performance Lizzies current level of
performance on a Kindergarten AIMSweb LSF probe
is 2 Letter Sounds/min, while the expected
level of performance is 14 correct Letter Sounds
for Fall. GoalAt the end of 8 weeks, when
given a K AIMSweb LSF probe, Lizzie will say
Correct Letter Sounds with an expected
performance level of 22 LS/min.
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IEP Goal Written with AIMSweb

• Basic Reading Skills Goal (Second Grader)
• Current Performance Level
• Terrances current level of performance when
  given an AIMSweb 2nd Grade R-CBM probe is 40
  WRC/min, while the expected level of performance
  is 82 WRC/min, (50thile target).
• Goal
• In 30 weeks, when given an AIMSweb 2nd Grade
  R-CBM probe, Terrence will achieve a median score
  of 100 WRC/min with less than 4 errors.
• Objective
• Each week, when given an AIMSweb 2nd Grade R-CBM
  (Reading Fluency) probe, Terrence will increase
  his score by 2 Words Read Correctly.