Research Spotlight
Navigating Progress Monitoring One Step at a Time: Practices Leading to Success Procedural Guidance for Success Jenine Kastner, Ed.D. Introduction Research supports the power of data in promoting school improvement and student learning. With continuous technological advances and federal and state mandates to ensure students meet academic standards, data, and data systems are easily accessible to educators. Change is challenging, as with any initiative or change in our educational system. Many aspects of data-driven decision-making cause teachers in the classroom and administrators to become hesitant to begin the change process. This is an essential, yet often overlooked aspect of special education. As Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are transferred from one district to another, the same issues are evident, and the need for more knowledge about data-driven IEPs and progress monitoring reveals a global problem. The selection process for goals and objectives in IEPs needs to be done through an analysis of student needs or utilized to target interventions and instruction. Progress monitoring is a practice that guides teachers to utilize individual student data to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional practices in place frequently and to use data to make informed instructional decisions. Based on the immediate need to change, the district transitioned to develop and enhance progress monitoring procedures. This has proved to be a challenging change and required careful and strategic planning which took place over three years. This paper aims to share procedures to make this necessary shift in writing IEPs and to change educators’ perspective and understanding of the IEP process. This paper will offer procedural guidance for using comprehensive data, writing IEPs, developing goals based on individual needs, establishing progress monitoring procedures and practices in schools, and using data to make informed decisions. This change requires time and practice. By taking this process one step at a time, districts are ensured meaningful success, a higher buy-in rate, and effective use of data in instructional practices. Background Information Over the past 40 years, special education programs and interventions have significantly changed. Federal and state laws have been enhanced to ensure equal opportunities are provided for students with disabilities and regulations have required school districts to improve their
NJAEL Leader’s Edge Magazine 17
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