FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT: CurriculumBased Measurement Progress Monitoring

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FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT Curriculum-Based
MeasurementProgress Monitoring

• NC Department of Public Instruction
• Exceptional Children Division
• Program Improvement Professional
  Development-2008

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Todays Agenda

• Review
• Progress Monitoring
• Charting Activity
• Setting Goals
• Generalizing Charting
• Case Studies
• Applying what weve learned
• (other case studies)

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PROGRESS MONITORING
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Progress Monitoring

• Definition
• Frequent, repeated data collection (no less than
  2-3 times a week at tier III) and analysis of
  student performance
• Data is collected during intervention and
  provides basis for intervention effectiveness
• Frequency of progress monitoring is directly
  related to the intensity of the intervention

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Why Progress Monitoring?

• There is no guarantee that interventions will be
  successful, thus the intervention must be
  tested to evaluate effectiveness
• Pre/post testing has be shown to be unreliable
  (small amount of data) and provides too little
  data to allow for instructional decision making
  progress monitoring allows for evaluation of
  level of performance and rate of learning
• Research has shown that progress monitoring is
  associated with improved educational outcomes

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Progress Monitoring

• Essential components that must be in place for
  successful progress monitoring
• A well-defined target behavior
• A measurement strategy
• Identification of students current level of
  performance (baseline)
• Intervention
• Goal
• Graph
• Decision-making plan

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Well Defined Target Behavior

• Target behavior must be observable, measurable,
  and specific
• Focus on enabling skills
• Reading
• Phonemic awareness
• Alphabetic understanding
• Fluency and accuracy
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension
• http//reading.uoregon.edu/

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Well Defined Target Behavior

• Enabling skills for written expression
• Mechanics
• Expression
• Enabling skills for math
• Number sense
• Facts
• Computation
• Applications
• Problem solving

• Enabling skills for behavior
• Social skills
• Work completion
• Compliance
• Problem solving skills

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Measurement Strategy

• Frequent and repeated collection of data
• Time and cost efficient
• Sensitive to changes over short periods of time
• CBMs and observations

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Current Level of Performance (Baseline)

• Gathered prior to intervention
• Repeatable
• Provides comparison for progress data
• Helps set goal
• Median score why?

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Intervention

• Match intervention to problem
• Intervention should be developed with the
  expectation that it will be altered in some way
  as a result of the progress monitoring data
• Increase time, increase frequency
• No intervention works all of the time for every
  student

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Establishing a Goal

• Standard against which progress can be compared
• Allows for aimline to be established
• Possible goals
• State Norms
• http//www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/development/lear
  ning/intervention/
• Percentile cutoff
• State growth rates
• Realistic and Ambitious growth rates (Fuchs and
  Fuchs)

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Establishing a Goal Computing Growth Rates

• Winter Norm minus Fall Norm or Spring Norm minus
  Winter Norm, divided by number of weeks between
  norming projects (10 weeks)
• Gives you a growth expectancy for each week of
  school year
• Allows for obtaining students baseline then
  monitoring progress while comparing to growth
  expectancy
• This is great to use as a goal when you are
  monitoring a student on a skill out of his grade
  level norm (5th grader learning blends)
• See handout for computed growth rates

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Establishing a Goal Growth Rates based on
research by Doug and Lynn Fuchs

• Realistic Growth Rates
• Gr 1 2 words/week
• Gr 2 1.5 wrds/week
• Gr 3 1 words/week
• Gr 4 .9 words/week
• Gr 5 .5 words/week

• Ambitious Growth Rates
• Gr 1 3 words/week
• Gr 2 2 words/week
• Gr 3 1.5 wrds/week
• Gr 4 1.1 wrds/week
• Gr 5 .8 words/week

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Graph

• Visual depiction of the students performance
  data, relative to the goal and aimline
• Includes baseline data, goal, aimline, and
  progress monitoring data
• A visual representation of students acquisition
  of skills and allows for easier analysis of
  progress
• Research has shown the charting also facilitates
  positive student outcomes (Fuchs, 1989)
• Semi-log chart
• Equal interval charts can misrepresent data,
  depending on how axis is quantified
• Equal interval charts assumes equal amounts of
  progress between all data points

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Decision Making Plan

• Facilitates interpretation of data
• Should include
• Rule for raising performance goal 6/4
  consecutive data points above the aimline
• Rule for altering the intervention due to lack of
  progress 3/4 consecutive data points below the
  aimline
• (Deno/Allison)

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Decision Making Plan

• If the decision is to adjust an intervention,
  small changes or refinements are recommended
  before major changes
• Changes should be substantial enough that it has
  a possibility to result in improved student
  performance
• If making an adjustment, do not make two at the
  same time. It may result in the team being unable
  to determine what caused increased student
  performance

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Decision Making Plan

• As student performance approaches goal, team must
  decide
• Raise the goal (what if the goal is the local
  norm?)
• Begin work on another target behavior
• Lowering level of service
• If in Tier IV consider
• Lowering level of service

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Charting Activity

• Procedures
• Write the prediction/goal statement
• Depict baseline data collection phase on the
  chart (week B), indicate the median score,
  identify with a heavy dark line
• Depict the goal at the end of the anticipated
  intervention phase
• Depict the aimline by connecting the baseline
  median with the goal, this gives you expected
  rate of progress

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Charting Activity

• Plot the baseline data
• Monday 14
• Wednesday 6
• Friday 10
• Plot the median on the Sunday line
• Plot the goal at the end of eight weeks
• 40 (assume this is the state norm)
• Indicate the aimline

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Charting Activity

• Plot the first two weeks progress monitoring data
• Week One
• Tuesday 16
• Thursday 14
• Week Two
• Monday 10
• Wednesday 18
• Friday 16
• Make an informed decision regarding the
  effectiveness of the intervention

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Charting Activity

• Plot progress monitoring data for next two weeks
• Week Three
• Tuesday 14
• Thursday - 10
• Week Four
• Monday 15
• Wednesday 16
• Friday 16
• Make an informed decision regarding the
  effectiveness of the intervention

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Charting Activity

• Plot the progress monitoring of the next two
  weeks
• Week Five
• Tuesday 24
• Thursday - 26
• Week Six
• Monday 28
• Wednesday 26
• Friday 28
• Make an informed decision regarding the
  effectiveness of the intervention

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Charting Activity

• Phase two or three of the intervention?
• Plot the progress monitoring of the next two
  weeks
• Week Seven
• Tuesday 30
• Thursday 33
• Week Eight
• Monday 35
• Wednesday 42
• Friday 40
• Make an informed decision regarding the
  effectiveness of the intervention
• Final decision?

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Decision Making Plan

• Possible Decisions
• Student is performing above goal line
• Raise goal
• Student is performing at/around goal line
• Continue with same goal
• Student is performing below goal line
• Modify interventions
• Student is performing below goal line despite
  modifying interventions
• Consider entitlement

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Graph 1
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Graph 1 - Decisions

• Student is a second grader working on sight word
  fluency
• 6 initial data points above aim line
• Decisions?
• Raise goal
• Change intervention and PM to another skill
  (reading fluency)

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Decision Making Plan Considering Eligibility

• Three complete phases of intervention plan
• Rule for altering intervention (3 or 4 data
  points below the aim line)
• Consideration of goal
• What level of performance would be acceptable?
• Consideration of intervention effort
• What resources do the intervention take?
• Consideration of dual discrepancy
• Performance discrepant from peers (below grade
  level)
• Performance rate discrepant from peers (rate of
  learning trend lines)

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Graph 2
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Graph 2 Decisions

• Scenario A
• Student is a second grader working on sight word
  fluency
• Goal is local norm
• Intervention is 3 times a week for 30 minutes
• Working on Dolch words with a reading specialist
• Decisions?
• Continue to provide support without intensive
  intervention
• Work on a second area (reading fluency)

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Graph 2 Decisions

• Scenario B
• Student is a fourth grader working on letter
  sounds and blending CVC words
• Goal is local norm
• Intervention is 5 times a week for 45 minutes
• Language! program
• Decisions?
• Work on a second area (reading fluency)
• Consider maintaining intense intervention due to
  significant amount of effort in intervention

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Graph 3
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Graph 3 Decisions

• Scenario A
• Student is a first grader working on short vowel
  and hard consonant sounds
• Goal is local norm
• Phase one of the Intervention is 3 times a week
  for 30 minutes
• Phase two of the intervention is 3 times a week
  for 45 minutes
• Phase three of the intervention is 5 times a week
  for 45 minutes
• Decisions?
• Continue to provide support without intensive
  intervention
• Work on a second area (blending or sight words)

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Graph 3 Decisions

• Scenario B
• Student is a first grader working on short vowel
  and hard consonant sounds
• Goal is percentile cutoff 15th percentile
• Phase one of the Intervention is 3 times a week
  for 30 minutes
• Phase two of the intervention is 3 times a week
  for 45 minutes
• Phase three of the intervention is 5 times a week
  for 45 minutes
• Decisions?
• Consider maintaining intense intervention due to
  significant amount of effort in intervention
• Work on a second area (blending or sight words)

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Graph 4
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Graph 4 Decisions

• Student is a first grader working on short vowel
  and hard consonant sounds
• Goal is 25th ile
• Phase one of the Intervention is 3 times a week
  for 30 minutes
• Phase two of the intervention is 3 times a week
  for 45 minutes
• Phase three of the intervention is 5 times a week
  for 45 minutes
• Decisions?
• Consider maintaining intense intervention due to
  significant amount of effort in intervention as
  well as lack of progress towards goal despite
  increasing intervention time and frequency

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Questions?

• Sherry Abernethy SAbernethy_at_dpi.state.nc.us
• http//www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/development/lear
  ning/intervention/
• Special Thanks
• Susan H. Laney, School Psychologist
• Guilford County Schools
• laneys_at_gcsnc.com
• Dr. Tom Jenkins, Director
• Educational Consultation Services, LLC
• www.educationalconsultationservices.com