Progress Monitoring for IEP Development

There are three educational processes that can be used to support IEP development:

  • Assessment to determine present levels of performance
  • Educational programming as dictated by measurable annual goals/benchmarks, services and modifications.
  • Progress monitoring, formative evaluation and reporting of student progress to parents.

Examples of how IEPs can be developed using CBM:

  • Results of a tri-annual evaluation suggest that Billy, a third grader, is significantly behind his peers in basic reading skills and comprehension.
  • Billy’s teacher selects random reading passages from the end of 3rd grade curriculum materials and applies the Maze procedure according to guidelines.
  • Billy’s teacher creates a baseline by administering a series of Maze passages. A score of 4 is used as Billy’s baseline score.
  • The baseline is plotted on a graph and a Present Level of Performance (PLP) statement is developed based on the baseline data. Among other information, the PLP will include a statement about Billy’s current level of performance: e.g.” When given randomly selected passages from a third grade text, Billy received a corrected maze score of 4.” There may be an additional statement regarding the average performance of his peer group or class placement.
  • Once the baseline and PLP are established, CBM can also be used to develop ambitious and realistic reading goals (the reading level Billy should be performing at the end of the school year; see section on developing goals). CBM can also be used to establish short term objectives (the rate of increase of Billy’s Maze scores per week), e.g. “By the end of the year, Billy will receive a median corrected maze score of 16 on 3d grade passages”.
  • CBM can be used to monitor Billy’s progress towards his IEP goals. If the progress monitoring data reflect that Billy’s goal is not appropriate, the IEP team can reconvene and adjust goals as needed.