Progress  Monitoring  and  Goal  Setting     Progress  Monitoring     The  frequency  of  progress  monitoring  will  match  the  intensity  of  student  need;  students  more  at-­‐ risk  receive  more  intensive  instruction.  Monitoring  at-­‐risk  students’  progress  is  more  frequent  for   two  reasons.  First,  the  more  frequently  we  monitor  progress  the  faster  we  can  respond  to  student   needs  not  being  met.  Second,  because  intensive  intervention  is  more  time  consuming  and  resource   demanding,  more  frequent  monitoring  can  increase  the  probability  that  our  efforts  are  producing   results.  The  majority  of  this  section  is  concentrated  on  writing  goals  for  students  to  master  basic   skills  (i.e.,  Curriculum-­‐Based  Measures,  CBMs);  however,  the  concepts  are  the  same  whether   monitoring  progress  in  academic  or  behavioral  areas.  Once  students  have  mastered  basic  skills,   more  complex  mastery  monitoring  strategies  (i.e.,  progress  with  common  grade  level  assessments)   may  become  the  primary  focus  of  goals.   Progress  monitoring  is  the  primary  tool  used  to  determine   the  effectiveness  of  intervention.  Students  will  exit  from  intervention  when  progress  monitoring   indicates  they  are  likely  to  succeed  in  the  general  education  classroom  without  further  support.     How  Often  Do  We  Measure  Progress?     The  most  common  type  of  progress  monitoring  is  accomplished  with  CBMs  in  Reading  or   Mathematics,  or  with  Tests  of  Early  Literacy  or  Numeracy,  from  AIMSweb.  These  measures  have   been  reviewed  and  approved  by  the  National  Center  on  Progress  Monitoring.  The  frequency  of   progress  monitoring  is  consistent  with  the  intensity  of  the  intervention.  Students  who  receive   intensive  interventions  (including  students  receiving  special  education  support  in  reading  and   math)  should  be  monitored  at  least  weekly.  Students  who  receive  supplemental  tier  2   interventions  will  be  monitored  at  least  monthly,  but  sometimes,  every  other  week  is   recommended.  The  table  below  indicates  the  frequency  of  monitoring.    Different  skill  probes  of   equivalent  difficulty  should  be  used  for  each  instance  of  progress  monitoring.                                

      Table  2.1  Progress  Monitoring  Schedule  for  Reading    

Tier  

Frequency  

Number  of  probes  

1  

3  x  per  year  

3  standard  benchmark   passages  

1*  

Weekly  

1  to  3  skill  probes  

             

Notes       Final  score  entered  is  the  median   (middle  score)  of  the  three   passages.  Recorded  errors  is  the   median  of  the  three  passages.     Review  progress  after  4  weeks  (on   the  5th   week)  

  Students  may  be  monitored  more   frequently  at  the  discretion  of  the   team   *For  those  students  whom  you  have  placed  on  a  “watch”  list  and  are  only  receiving  Tier  1   instruction   2    

Every  other  week   or  Monthly                                    1    skill  probe  

  Setting  Up  Progress  Monitoring  with  AIMSweb  CBMs     Prior  to  beginning  to  use  intervention  materials,  intervention  teachers  will  assess  and  record  the   results  of  three  progress-­‐monitoring  passages  for  each  student.  This  can  be  completed  on  one  day  or   on  three  consecutive  days  the  first  week  that  intervention  begins.  You  will  take  the  median  score  of   these  3  skill  probes.    This  median  score  establishes  your  baseline  and  a  clear  beginning  point  for   progress  monitoring.       See  AIMSweb  Cheat  sheet  in  Appendix  A  for  the  steps  to  set  up  the  progress  monitoring  schedule   within  the  AIMSweb  database.     Goal  Setting     Setting  goals  is  a  value  driven  activity.  There  is  no  single  way  to  set  goals,  and  what  is  the  correct   action  for  one  situation  may  be  the  wrong  action  for  another.  Once  interventions  are  established,  a   specific  outcome  goal  should  be  determined.  Using  the  appropriate  CBM  matched  to  skill  deficit,    we   can  efficiently  and  effectively  monitor  student  progress  with  a  simple  1-­‐minute  procedure.       Note.  Although  goals  are  set  to  measure  reading  rate  (or  other  specific  foundational  skill),   supplemental  interventions  are  focused  on  comprehensive  reading  instruction  and  not  solely   on  increasing  reading  rate  or  specific  foundational  skill.                  

  Currently,  there  are  two  different  options  used  to  set  goals  for  intervention.       Option  1:    Norm  Referenced  Goals       One  type  of  goal  is  Norm  Referenced  Goals.  This  type  of  goal  would  indicate  that  a  student  who   meets  the  expected  target  goal  will  likely  be  successful  working  within  a  group  with  typical,   same  age  peers.   Norm  referenced  goals  are  actually  a  type  of  Standards  Based  Goals  in  which  the   standard  is  the  lower  bound  of  typical  for  a  district.  In  the  case  of  MMSD,  we  have  defined  typical   as  performance  between  the  25th   and  75th   percentile.  Therefore,  the  lower  bound  of  typical  is  the   25th   percentile.    These  type  of  goals  are  typically  set  for  those  students  receiving  Tier  2   intervention  or  for  those  students  who  are  placed  on  a  “watch”  list.     • A  strength  of  Norm  Referenced  Goals  is  that  once  typical  is  defined,  a  target  is  easy  to  set.   • The  recommendation  for  using  Norm  Referenced  Goals  is  to  set  the  goal  for  the  lower   bound  of  average  (i.e.,  the  25th   percentile);  however,  for  some  students  this  expectation   •

may  not  be  realistic.   A  weakness  of  Norm  Referenced  Goals  is  that  the  goal  may  be  unrealistic  is  student’s   baseline  is  extremely  low.    

    Table  2.2  Sample  of  Benchmark  Target  Goals  (Norm-­‐Referenced)     Grade   CBM   Benchmark  at  25th   Skill   Time  Period   Percentile   1   NWF   51   Sounds  correct   Spring     R-­‐CBM   40   Words  Read   Spring   Correct/minute   2   R-­‐CBM   82   Words  Read   Spring   Correct  /minute       For  ALL  Norm-­‐Referenced  Literacy  Cut  Scores  (Benchmarks)  for  AIMSweb  see  Appendix  B.   (AIMSweb  National  Norms  Table)       Example  of  Norm  Referenced  Goals     Second  Grade  student  with  a  median  baseline  score  of  17  WCPM  in  the  Fall.    Target  goal  or   expectation  at  the  conclusion  of  the  school  year  would  be  82  WCPM.

 

  Option  2:    Growth  Referenced  Goals       This  type  of  goal  would  indicate  that  a  student  who  meets  the  expectation  is  making  progress   relative  to  their  own  level  of  achievement,  even  though  it  may  still  be  substantially  below   either  normative  information  or  standards.  When  Growth  Referenced  Goals,  a  goal  is  calculated   based  on  the  amount  of  growth  that  is  expected  for  a  student,  taking  into  account  the  individual   characteristics  of  the  student,  with  regards  to  the  intensity  of  the  intervention  that  is  being   delivered.     •          A  strength  of  Growth  Referenced  Goals  is  that  this  type  of  goal  is  always  individualized.   •   A  weakness  of  Growth  Referenced  Goals  is  without  using  a  standard  for  expected   growth,  goals  can  be  written  to  be  either  too  difficult  or  too  easy  to  attain.   •   In  addition,  typically  Growth  Referenced  Goals  require  that  the  same  measure  is  used   during  baseline  and  evaluation  phases  of  the  goal.  This  is  ideal  for  monitoring   progress  within  a  school  year,  but  it  does  not  work  well  for  setting  a  goal  in  which  the   material  being  used  for  progress  monitoring  changes  from  baseline  to  evaluation   phase  because  of  scaling  issues  (i.e.,  3rd   grade  passages  are  easier  than  4th   grade,  but   more  difficult  than  2nd   grade  passages;  and  typically  5th   grade  passages  are  easier  than   6th   grade,  but  more  difficult  than  4th).     For  students  who  are  reading  substantially  below  benchmark  targets  (i.e.,  students  receiving  Tier  3   intervention  service   where  it  is  not  realistic  to  set  the  goal  for  those  targets),  a  reasonable  but   challenging  goal  should  be  set.  A  reasonable  but  challenging  expectation  for  growth,  depending  on   grade  level  of  the  student,  would  be  anywhere  from  1.25%  to  2.00%.    In  carefully  controlled   research  studies  (i.e.,  Random  Control  Trials)  where  students  receive  a  highly  effective   intervention,  we  can  expect  1.5  to  2.0  times  average  rate  of  typical  growth.    In  setting  a  goal,  the   team  needs  to  decide  what  constitutes  a  robust  response  to  the  intervention.    In  order  to  set  your   progress-­‐monitoring  schedule  in  AIMSweb  database,  you  are  going  to  have  to  do  some  manual   calculations  of  your  goal  based  on  what  you  know  about  your  student.  The  calculation  is  as  follows:     Baseline  score  (median  of  3  probes)  +  (Norm  Rate  of  Improvement  *  Acceleration  Rate)  *   weeks     For  example,  if  I  have  a  student  in  3rd  grade  who’s  baseline  score  is  25  WCPM  and  I  want  to   establish  a  semester  (18  weeks)  goal,  this  is  how  I  would  compute  the  growth-­‐referenced  goal   based  on  the  acceleration  rate  that  the  team  identified.     25  +  (1.08  *  1.25)*18     #  of  weeks     Baseline   intervention     Acceleration   Norm  ROI   Rate          

 

  OR,  in  words,         Baseline  Median  Score  plus  (Norm  ROI  at  25th  Percentile  from  AIMSweb  National  Norms  Table   times  Acceleration  Rate  of  1.25  (minimum  needed)  times  18  (weeks,  duration  of  intervention)   =  Goal,  which  is  49.3  total  number  of  words  read  correctly  per  minute  by  the  end  of  the  18   week  period.     Of  course,  we  would  like  to  have  accelerated  growth  at  the  rate  of  1.5  or  2.0,  but  we  need  to   consider  realistic  targets  based  on  grade  level  (normative  growth  slows  over  time).    Therefore,  we   need  to  calculate,  and  decide  as  a  team,  what  a  reasonable  target  goal  is  for  acceleration.     Goal  Setting  Example     The  following  highlights  an  example  of  the  difference  between  Standards  Based  and  Growth   Referenced  Goals:         A  second  grade  student  who  is  receiving  an  intervention  scores  17  WCPM  in  fall  (Benchmark   Target  for  spring  is  90  WCPM).     • Norm  Referenced  Goals  (Tier  2,  and  Watch)  would  set  the  expectation  for  82   WCPM.  This  would  be  an  increase  of  65  WCPM  in  30  weeks,  or  an  increase  of   about  2.16  words  per  week.  Typical  ROI  for  this  grade  level  at  the  25th  percentile   is  1.31.   • Growth  Referenced  Goals   (typically  students  receiving  intensive,  or  Tier  3   intervention)  the  calculations  would  be  as  follows:     17  +  1.31*1.50*30  =  75.95  WCPM  (end  goal)   17  +  1.31*  1.25*30  =    66.125  WCPM  (goal)   Where:   17  =  Baseline  Score   1.31=  Normative  Rate  of  Improvement  at  the  25th  percentile  for  expected  peers   1.50  =  1.5  times  the  average  rate  of  improvement  (higher  target)   1.25  =  1.25  times  the  average  rate  of  improvement  (lower  target,  but  still   accelerated)   Team’s  decision:    Based  on  age/grade  level,  what  would  be  a  reasonable  acceleration   rate  (e.g.,  1.25,  1.50,  2.00)?     You  will  look  at  this  Growth  Referenced  Goal  in  relation  to  standards  based  (norm  referenced  goal),   but  you  will  judge  the  impact  of  the  intervention  based  on  the  growth-­‐referenced  goal  established   to  determine  if  a  student  is  making  reasonable  progress.

 

 

  Appendix  A:    AIMSweb  Cheat  Sheet    

How to Begin a Progress Monitoring Caseload (Creating Schedules) ♦ Look at the colored tabs at the top of the page. Click on the blue Progress Monitor tab . ♦ Select the Schedules tab on the left side of the page. ♦ Click on Manage Students tab right above the gray box. ♦ Search for students and put a check by the student that you want to add to your list. Click Add PM at the bottom of the page. Click OK when they ask if you want to run the schedule wizard. Click the assessment that you will use for progress monitoring. Click Next at the bottom of the page. Enter a Goal Start Date and a Goal Ending Date. It is easiest to have the ending date be the end of the year (high school may want to use semesters). ♦ Choose the Assessment Schedule and Frequency. Leave the default None selected in the Periodic and End of Schedule Reviews. ♦ Click Save. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

How to Set a Progress Monitoring Goal ♦ Under the Progress Monitor tab, click on Enter SLA, Baseline and Goal Scores for the student you are setting the goal for. ♦ From the drop down choose assessment level. This will be the child’s grade level (unless special conditions- see below). ♦ Enter the Initial Corrects and Initial Errors from the child’s benchmark data. ♦ If using benchmark data, leave Initial Probe as default None. ♦ Under Initial Program Label enter the research based intervention you are using with the child ♦ Under Initial Program Description you can put additional info in the box below such as number of minutes or days per week the child is receiving interventions or any supplements you are using. ♦ Under the Goal Criterion for Success Scores enter the Goal Corrects for the child by the end of the year. You can get the Spring targets from the Aims National Norms (see below). ♦ To set the Goal Errors you can either take the initial errors and decrease by 50% (child had 10 errors in fall, set goal for 5 in the Spring) or you can set for 95% accuracy this will be approximate) whichever you feel is most appropriate for the student. ♦ Click

 

.

 

 

How to Access the AIMSweb Norms Tables ♦ Click the Reports tab

, and select the Aimsweb on the left side of the page.

♦ Click on whichever test you want the norms for and click on ♦ Click and it will make a nice copy for you ♦ If you want more detailed percentages 1st—99th you can click on Expand and check that and click Display.

How to Document or Change Intervention Used

♦ Click the pencil beside the students name on the progress monitor screen. ♦ Then click on the sheet of paper with an “I” on it that corresponds to the day that you started your intervention. ♦ Type in the name of your intervention in the box labeled Chart Label. Write a brief description and select Add. This information will appear on the progress monitor chart and report.

How to Print Progress Monitoring Probes ♦ Find the yellow Downloads tab at the top of the page. ♦ Click on the gray Progress Monitor tab on the left side of the page. ♦ Choose the type of measure under the dropdown Select Measure Type box under the colored tabs. Click GO. ♦ Look at the gray tabs beside the measure type you chose. Choose the one you need. ♦ Click the Download Passage link next to the probe (test) you need. (Start with the first one and then work your way down as you monitor the child according to the schedule you set up for him/her.) ♦ Print.

How to Enter Progress Monitoring Scores ♦ Click the Progress Monitor tab ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

 

.

Look in the gray box and look under the NEXT SCORE column . Click on the pencil by the date you were scheduled to give the PROBE. Type in the score. (If you gave the test on the scheduled day, the box is green.) Click SAVE

 

 

How to Print the Progress Monitoring Report ♦ Click on the Progress Monitor tab

at the top of the page.

♦ Look by the child’s name in the last gray box (Progress Report) . ♦ Click on the blue writing under Progress Report. ♦ You may have to choose what you want the chart to show at the top of the page. This report will show your child’s progress toward their goal.

Modified from Barren County School District  

 

 

  Appendix  B:  AIMSweb  National  Norms  Tables   MMSD  2013-­‐2014