Today we are going to look at student progress monitoring data and talk about what actions need to be taken based on the results you are seeing.
So what’s happening in the classroom right now? Students are working independently on their Classworks ILPs. Once a week students are taking their CBM probes.
What does Progress Monitoring ultimately help you do? The data allows you to see if students are responding to their intervention, lets you know if you need to adjust instruction, and if students need to move tiers.
I found some great information on the NCII website outlining some rules to use around analyzing data. The rules involve data points and trend lines and work really well with Classworks Progress monitoring. I want to walk through the rules first and then we will look at examples of each.
Let’s start with using data points to help guide you with next steps for students. With data points, you work with the four-point rule.
The new screener data gives us a universal data point that we can and should use to decide if adjustments are needed in a child’s progress monitoring session. Before we look at that data and how you can use it to make decisions. We want to remind you of the 4 point rule. This rule or guideline can be used anytime during the Progress Monitoring session once students have completed 4 weekly probes.
It’s called the four-point rule for data points.
If all four data points are above the goal line, increase the goal
If all four data points are below the goal line, make an instructional change
If the four data points are above and below the goal line, continue with instruction and data collection
Let’s look at some examples.
Here we see all four data points above the target rate of improvement. The first data point sets the target but each of the following represent the trend. This student data is an example of the rule that says “if all four data points are above the goal line, increase the goal”. Now that being said, there is one really high data point that is a bit of an outlier. I would recommend waiting a couple of weeks to get additional data to see if that was a one-time thing or if the student is ready to move on. After a couple of weeks, look at this data again and revisit next steps - one of which may be to increase the goal.
In this example, the student is obviously struggling. The rule we follow here is “If all four data points are below the goal line, make an instructional change.”
Your actions may include stopping this set of CBMs and starting a new set at a lower level and then checking on intervention mastery. Look at the mastery of skills within the intervention and adjust.
If the four data points are above AND below the goal line, continue with instruction and data collection. Inconsistent data like this may be a result of student behavior or even time of day the CBM is administered. It is worth watching this data for a few more weeks before making any decisions.
So how can we use trend lines to help us make instructional decisions for our students? Our next rules use the trend line and focus on the end goal. Use the trend line in addition to the four-point rule or perhaps toward the end of the 12-week session when there are many data points. Let’s look at some examples!
This trend line shows that there has been a recent downward trend for this student. It's time to check in with any notes attached to the progress monitoring report or find out if there have been issues in class or at home
If lines are close, a change is not necessarily needed. This student is on the right track! Of course, you want to continue reviewing the instructional intervention to look for consistency and mastery to make the best next step decisions.
Any of the scenarios we discussed today could involve data reflecting a need to move a student within tiers. Struggling students who move from Tier 2 to Tier 3 will get increased intervention time as well as adjusted progress monitoring. A student receiving tier 2 support who has a steep upward trend line may be ready to move back to Tier 1. These decisions made by the student support team are critical to a successful RTI process.
The student support team establishes next steps for students based on data. Reports such as our Progress Monitoring Results Report provide the documentation you need to support teacher efforts, student behavior, trends in student performance, and instructional changes.
If changes are needed it is easy to stop current CBMs and start a new set with a new level. Then students never miss a beat.
Tiers are identified through screening and intervention is in place for tier 2 and 3. Now it’s vital to monitor their progress at the student’s performance level. What exactly IS Progress Monitoring? Why do we need it? Progress monitoring is a ...
If you have been following along with us, you know we have been chatting about best practices within Multi-Tiered Systems and Supports. What have we discussed so far? In part one we interviewed a true practitioner of RTI. In Part Two we discussed ...
Today we are going to look not only at the types of data we want at those meetings but also other elements that need to be present. So what do you need to execute a meaningful data meeting? You need: The right people The right data The right ...
This is part 1 of our Classworks mini web series: Spotlight on RTI, discussing all things RTI! We will look at best practices for screening, looking at data, getting interventions in place, as well as monitoring for tier movement. When an effective ...
If you have followed my series, you know that I have walked through all aspects of the MTSS process - from identifying students for tiers to Progress Monitoring to the intervention itself. One important type of data to highlight is norm-referenced ...