practices. Research has provided us with substantial knowledge and understanding about best practices and research-based interventions to meet the needs of diverse learners. We have new programs, a greater understanding of the neurological implications of learning, and how to provide effective interventions tailored to individual learners. Despite these changes and new developments, school districts continue to write IEPs with similar goals and rate these measures using a subjective lens. Unlike current procedures and practices, progress monitoring requires frequent collection of data based on a targeted area of need for an individual learner. This process includes a careful and frequent analysis of the data, a review of the rate of progress, and data-driven-decision-making. This data is consistent with the needs of the learners and written in their IEP as measurable goals and short-term objectives. Progress monitoring is crucial in enhancing learning outcomes, ensuring program effectiveness, and maintaining legal and ethical compliance in educational settings. Based on an expansive review of research, it is evident and proven that progress monitoring results in higher student learning rates, improved decision-making, and students becoming more aware and driven to succeed. Over the past 30 years, research has shown that this method is a reliable predictor of future performance and can measure response to interventions using individualized outcome measures and standards. Therefore, this is a highly effective way to make instructional decisions (Good & Jefferson, 1998). Further, Fuchs and Fuchs (2002) completed an analysis of research that reviewed student progress monitoring. These researchers found that teachers using a ‘systematic progress monitoring’ (p. 1) procedure to track student learning and progress “are better able to identify students in need of additional or different forms of instruction, they design more robust instructional programs, and their students achieve better. (p. 1) In 2017, the U.S. The Supreme Court law case helped to transform the landscape for Local Educational Agencies and IEP development, specifically focusing on monitoring individualized goals and objectives. Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, established a substantive standard for achievement and accountability, underscoring the imperative to ensure that special education services furnish meaningful educational benefits to students with disabilities. Notably, it emphasized that "to fulfill its substantive duty under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a school must provide an IEP reasonably crafted to facilitate a child's advancement considering the child's unique circumstances." The Endrew case ruling reinforced the notion that progress is both attainable and anticipated for students with disabilities, thereby mandating IEP teams to establish ambitious yet attainable objectives. A recent case continues to change and challenge how local educational agencies address free and appropriate public education (FAPE) by providing appropriate services and adequate progress monitoring, which impedes students' educational advancement. In Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools (2022), the school district failed to provide supplemental aids and services for the student based on the notion that the student was making educational gains. However, the district was unable to validate the progress with data. Such shortcomings prevented educators and parents from making well-informed decisions and adjusting Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to ensure meaningful educational benefits for students with disabilities. Moreover, in this particular instance, subjective progress reports indicated that the student was making progress, leaving his parents unaware of his lack of progress. This case highlights the critical need for accurate and objective progress monitoring. Nevertheless, following the Perez decision (2022), parents are no longer obligated to complete the administrative due process procedures outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities
18 NJAEL Leader’s Edge Magazine
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