Teachers usually think that progress monitoring will be another time waster that will take away from our teaching and lessons. Progress monitoring sounds like just another thing to add to the list of things to complete for the day. It seems like just another series of assessments to add to the already too-large assessment pile. (Is it just me, or is the “To Do List” getting a lot longer these days than it used to?)
Progress monitoring does NOT have to be another series of assessments!
You CAN integrate progress monitoring into what you are already doing in your classroom! Check out the 5 steps I have outlined below to help you make progress monitoring fit seamlessly into your classroom.
Step 1: Identify the area of weakness you want or need to progress monitor. If you aren’t sure where to start….take a look at my 5 Steps to Begin Effective Progress Monitoring blog post. There, I start you off on the right foot on this journey!
Step 2: Identify what activities you will use to help students practice the skill. Activities are the actual work the students do to practice skills.These activities should be activities similar to what the students already do. They will be used more frequently and focused (or higher intensity) on the specific skills you are addressing.
For example, when I work on identifying initial sounds in words, I have one of my centers dedicated to this task. Students who I am progress monitoring work on their focus letter sounds. The other students may use this center time to review all letter sounds, or work on writing the initial sound. This way ALL the students are working on the same (or nearly the same) skill. But the students who are being monitored have a very focused set of activities to help them succeed.
Wherever possible, choose games your students can use in centers or do independently for practice!
Games are a great way to encourage students to keep working, even if the skills they are practicing are hard. Click the link to check out some of the activities I have used to keep my students focused and learning!
Step 3: Choose quick assessment activities and intervals of assessment. No assessment that you use for progress monitoring should take longer than 2-3 minutes! Whenever possible, I choose assessments that the students can do independently. For example students can match letters with the picture with the initial or final sound.
For example, when working on letter sounds, I may choose to time the students on how many letter sounds they can identify in 1 minute. This keeps my assessment short and sweet, and it is easy to keep the student interested with a “race”. I have also given students a voice recorder and allowed them to read the sounds like a movie star. I can use the recording as a data point.
Need letter name or sound identification assessments? I have been using the one below for YEARS.
Step 4: Integrate the progress monitoring into the activities students do during the regular day. Whether the activity is part of their center rotations or small group instruction with you, it should be just another part of the day. The students visit and practice the skills which will help them to be successful. If your students are doing the activities daily, and you follow the assessment schedule, you should see rapid progress. And if you are like me, progress is always exciting!
As a side-note, I always have a hard time staying on track with my center rotations! I finally got around to getting a timer to keep me on schedule. My favorite teacher timer is the countdown clock. It visually shows the students how much time they have left in their center.
Step 5: Collect the data points and graph that information! For information on how I keep up with my data tracking, check out Data Tracking Like a Boss.
Are you excited to integrate progress monitoring into your daily routine? Drop a comment to let me know how these steps help you get the monitoring running smoothly in your classroom!