PROGRESS MONITORING
GIF that has one word at a time pop up that reads Practice Makes Progress
Happy March! The theme for this month is based on the seventh essential principle from Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Educational Service Guidelines: Educational progress must be carefully monitored. Keep reading for resources and more!
Show Me the Data!
Cartoon character with item in hand and other hand in air words read Monitor All the Progress
The term “progress monitoring” often elicits strong emotional responses and a knee-jerk response for a #2 pencil for many educators (and students too). However, the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (2018) describes the importance of gathering student data in the Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Educational Service Guidelines where they state, “progress monitoring of specially designed instruction is critical [emphasis added] to ensure students are making short term and annual growth as well as accelerated progress to close gaps [emphasis added].” Progress monitoring is an integral part of the development of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP). 

Supporting Success for Children with Hearing Loss (2021) addresses ways to collect data on a myriad of topics from infancy through graduation on their webpage, Planning to Meet Student Needs where they also state, “The idea behind the Individualized Education Plan is that the IEP team would assess the students abilities, obtain information about how he/she is functioning in the classroom, determine the individual’s needs based on mainstream performance expectations and finally develop the IEP.” It is important to point out the emphasis on a student’s performance compared to grade-level expectations. In the case where a district’s progress monitoring tool is not accessible, IEP teams are tasked with finding alternatives to ensure students’ scores accurately reflect their current progress and needs. RMTC-D/HH (2019) addresses this situation in a Frequently Asked Question.

The roles of teachers for students who are D/HH may also be a consideration for progress monitoring. Progress monitoring may look very different for a teacher in a separate class for students who are D/HH (self-contained) compared to the data being collected by an itinerant teacher for students who are D/HH due to differences in frequency and duration of time spent with individual students, variation in academic demands, and even diverse administrative requirements for progress monitoring. Susie Tiggs curated tools for teachers in a separate classroom in her Progress Monitoring in the Deaf Ed Classroom LiveBinder. Similarly, Felicia Massie from Okeechobee County Schools in Florida has developed a LiveBinder Progress Monitoring & Recording Keeping for the Itinerant Teacher. Want to learn more about it? Check out TA-Live! from January 2020, Keeping it All Together: Progress Monitoring and Record-Keeping for Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing. Both Ms. Tiggs and Mrs. Massie have included tools teachers can use to make sure the data they are collecting moves students toward academic, communicative, social, and postsecondary success.
Avenue PM
Free Progress Monitoring for D/HH
Avenue PM is a free online progress monitoring tool designed specifically for students who are D/HH. Registrants have access to curriculum-based measures via the following applications: Picture Naming, Word Sign/Say, Copy Right, Slash, Kid Speak, MAZE, Kid Sign, and Word Mark. You can check out a TA-Live! Archive, On the Avenue to Progress Monitoring w/Students who are D/HH for more information on this robust tool!
News from RMTC-D/HH
March Panel of Experts Vicky Boodram and Gina Gilmore
RMTC-D/HH is pleased to announce the panel of experts for the March TA-Live! Webinar Principle 7 - Educational progress must be carefully monitored: Gina Gilmore, FSDB and Indira “Vicky” Boodram, Debbie School.

Have a question for the panelists? Fill out a short form in advance!

The webinar will be aligned with the seventh principle of the Optimizing Outcomes Guidelines, “Educational progress must be carefully monitored.”
Passport to Learning in the Areas of Assistive Technology (AT), Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Technicians and Teachers who Support Students Using AT, AEM, and UDL
screenshot of the Passport to Learning flyer
RMTC-D/HH is pleased to announce an exciting collaboration and professional development opportunity for Florida educators! Technology and Learning Connections (TLC) of the Problem Solving/ Response to Intervention project invites you to Passport to Learning. Embark on a three-month journey to increase your knowledge and skills in the areas of AT, AEM, and UDL. Each travel package includes two highly qualified travel guides to coach, mentor, and empower the travelers’ new learning community. As you gather souvenirs, you will strengthen your practice and impact student achievement. You can book your travel package from February 22 to March 5, 2021. Travel packages are set to embark on March 8, 2021:
  • Education/Learning - Technology for Vision and Hearing
  • Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
Please share with colleagues and friends. This journey would be an excellent opportunity for general education teachers, related services providers (SLPs, OTs, PTs), assistive technology specialists, and school personnel who are or may work with students who are D/HH, VI, or use AAC devices.
spotlight
Teacher Spotlight
Nicole Walsh is currently serving her 11th year as a Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing. She is in her 4th year in Volusia County as an itinerant teacher and started her career at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind as an elementary teacher. Nicole is the 2021 FEDHH President-Elect and was nominated for the Brian Newton Award for Excellence in 2020. She was recently nominated as a Volusia Council for Exceptional Children ESE Teacher of the Year for Volusia County Schools.

Know an educator (e.g., teacher, SLP, interpreter, educational audiologist, paraprofessional) who is doing amazing things with students who are D/HH? Fill out this form to nominate someone or even yourself!
Black and white photo of Nicole smiling
You can read the interview with Nicole Walsh, ToDHH in Volusia County. RMTC-D/HH was interested in learning more about her experience as a ToDHH pertaining to Principle 7 of the Optimizing Outcomes Guidelines, “Educational progress must be carefully monitored.”
spotlight
Expanded Skills Spotlight
Florida Expanded Skills logo Yellow star with blue bridge underneath Inside the star reads Florida Expanded Skills Skills for Success Bridge from top left to right reads FL ES DHH for Students who are DHH FL ES DHH Bottom left to right reads Communication
Time Management and Organizational System for Academic Studies
Three photos in a row First says Communication with an African American boy talking to another student the second is a Caucasian girl in a cap and gown hugging another student third photo is an elementary aged girl writing at her desk
Standard: SP.PK12.DH.2.2 Maintain a time management and organizational system for academic studies.

Brief description of the lesson:
Overcoming Obstacles is a nonprofit organization offering a free Life Skills Curriculum for Elementary, Middle, and High School. Teachers must create an account to access the free materials. The lessons are activity-based and address the following areas: set and achieve goals, study skills, resolve conflicts, solve problems, respect one another, and more. All materials are in 25 different languages.

Have an idea or lesson plan for Expanded Skills standards? Email your idea to RMTC-D/HH!
Overcoming Obstacles has lesson plans at the middle and high school level that address standard SP.PK12.DH.2.2.
Middle School: 
  • Time Management: Module Four - Managing Personal Resources, Lesson 4: Managing Time
  • Organizational System: Module Five- Studying Effectively, Lessons 1-7

High School:
  • Time Management: Module Six - Skills for School and Beyond, Lesson 2: Managing Your Time
  • Organizational System: Module Six - Skills for School and Beyond, Lessons 3-6
RMTC DHH Teacher Toolkit logo with toolbox with hearing aids ruler and hearing stethoscope
Resources:
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In order to keep all the resources in one place, RMTC-D/HH has created a LiveBinder that is categorized by the Ten Essential Principles for Effective Education of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing from the Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Educational Service Guidelines. To see the resources available by each category, check out the LiveBinder!
RMTC DHH Media and Materials Loan Library header logo
Resources that are in the RMTC-D/HH Media and Materials Loan Library* that have relevance to the essential principle “Educational Progress Must be Carefully Monitored”:

  • The Data Collection Toolkit (#1932): Collecting data on behavior, academic skills, and IEP goals is an essential step in showing student progress—but it can also be a complicated, time-consuming process. Take the worry and stress out of data collection with this ultra-practical resource, packed with the tools you need to organize, manage, and monitor critical information on your students' progress. You'll discover proven, stress-free data collection techniques used by real teachers, with strategies and shortcuts developed through the author's extensive teaching and consulting work. You'll also get first-person classroom examples, quizzes, definitions of key terms, and a complete package of reproducible forms and tools. An essential resource for special educators, general educators, and paraprofessionals, this toolkit will help you become a "classroom detective" who collects the right data, analyzes it skillfully, and uses it to solve each student's challenges.

  • Steps to Assessment - A Guide to Identifying Educational Needs for D/HH Students (#1943): The focus of this guide is appropriate assessment practices for children from transition to school at age 3 through high school. Categories of assessment are presented, as are ways to tease out information from assessment results to illustrate how to identify needs to support eligibility. A variety of assessments are described for each assessment area. Case studies are provided that show how the teacher can choose appropriate test instruments and interpret the results, including determining possible goal areas. A section describing self-learning application activities helps readers to integrate the information into daily practice and makes this Guide the perfect subject of a Professional Learning Community. Teachers who use this guide will have a much better understanding of the vulnerable areas of development due to hearing loss, how the areas interconnect, and ultimately how they are the experts in using the ‘deaf lens’ to contribute to their evaluation teams and service planning. This information will assist educators of the deaf/hard of hearing, educational audiologists and specialist speech language pathologists in being able to advocate with school teams for appropriately tailored assessment and program planning for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  • Starting with Assessment: A Developmental Approach to Deaf Children’s Literacy (#1891): “Based on the premise that effective instruction must be geared toward each student's learning needs, this landmark text provides in-depth discussion of research-based principles for assessing deaf children's skills and areas of need. Literacy instruction and planning are discussed. Reproducible checklists and assessment tools in such areas as reading, writing, conversational language competence, student self-assessment, and parental input are included. A must-read manual for administrators, teachers, teachers-in-training, literacy specialists, support staff, and parents.” (Clerc Center, 2021)
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  • C. O. A. C. H. (#1939): “C.O.A.C.H. is a ‘How to’ and “What to do” book for the development of skills for secondary students. The program uses a problem solving model of C.O.A.C.H. – Concern- Observe- Access- Collaborate- make it Happen to address access and communication needs. The book includes: rationale for the instruction model, step by step directions, goals and activities, assessments, and reproducible worksheets. Each section addresses specific aspects of advocacy and develops underlying skills to support application. Learn how to guide your students to handle their use specific situations and to develop skills they will use for a lifetime.”

*Florida stakeholders can borrow these and many other resources from RMTC-D/HH's Media and Materials Loan Library, for FREE. Each material comes with a return label, making even the shipping at no charge to the borrower.
RMTC-D/HH Family Corner
Family Corner logo with hands holding a house with a heart in the middle of house with RMTC logo in the top left hand corner
Family Corner is a section for professionals that will address how they can help parents to be more involved and be more collaborative. This section will be from the perspective of a parent of a child who is deaf and has other disabilities and who also happens to be an educational professional. Depending on the topic, this section may deal with how to approach parents on the topic or help educators understand the parents’ perspectives.

What families need to know about: Progress Monitoring
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When teachers and other professionals talk with parents about monitoring the progress of students who are deaf or hard of hearing, it is critical to emphasize how important this aspect of the educational process is for each student’s success. Each member of the team involved with that student has a role in progress monitoring. This is important because many parents do not realize that they have several roles in this activity.

Parents may assume that the teachers and other professionals will handle monitoring progress and that, as parents, they don’t have the knowledge or skills to be helpful in this role. Professionals can assist parents in understanding what progress monitoring is, what the teachers and other professionals are doing to monitor the child’s progress, and how and where parents fit in this process.

First, parents can assist in carefully monitoring progress at home. Is homework being done and does the child grasp concepts? Is the child working independently or does he/she need assistance, and if so how much? Has the level of assistance needed increased or reduced recently? These kinds of observations are helpful to the IEP team and the school personnel in monitoring a student’s progress and provides an additional level of information to the decision-making process beyond what happens at school.

Second, parents also provide an oversight role. They should be the ‘outside eyes’ that are looking holistically at the child, where the child was, and where the child is. Is progress consistent and keeping up with expectations? Is the child falling further behind? Is the child completing assignments, having appropriate behavior, and accessing his or her world in ways comparable to same-age or same-grade peers? Parents should be encouraged to ask these kinds of questions, and then, if they do not understand an answer or feel something is out of place or different, be encouraged to follow up on those concerns and ask for explanations. In this role, parents can encourage progress, flexibility, and creativity in problem solving by asking teachers and professionals to reflect on what they are doing, if it is or is not working, and why. As valued members of the educational team, they can help the team keep their thinking fresh and centered on the needs and performance of that specific child. They can act to help ensure that educational progress is carefully monitored.
Did you know?
  • The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB) is continuing its Virtual Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) Interactive Learning Series for children ages 6-13 who are deaf or hard of hearing or blind or visually impaired. The virtual ECC sessions are available at no cost. Registration deadlines are March 13, 2021, for the events on March 26 and 27, 2021; and March 26, 2021, for the events on April 9 and 10, 2021.


  • Florida Educators of Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing (FEDHH) is accepting mini-grant applications from members until March 12, 2021. Not a FEDHH member? It’s not too late to register for membership. 
Upcoming Events: Save the Date!
Do More. Be More. Achieve More.
RMTC-D/HH provides Tech Notes as a free resource to teachers, professionals, and parents around the state in order to pass along potentially useful information and expand the knowledge and opportunities available to educators and families of children who have hearing loss. This email was funded by the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Part B funds. The information included does not reflect any specific endorsement by any parties involved.
Suggested citation:
Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard [RMTC-D/HH]. (2021, March). Progress Monitoring. Tech Notes. https://www.rmtcdhh.org/tech-notes-archive/



References:

Massie, F. (n.d.). Progress Monitoring & Record Keeping for the Itinerant Teacher. LiveBinder. https://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=2290271

Massie, F. (2020, January 8). Keeping it all together: Progress monitoring and record-keeping for teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing. TA-Live! Archive. https://www.rmtcdhh.org/aiovg_videos/keeping-it-all-together-progress-monitoring-and-record-keeping-for-teachers-of-the-deaf-hard-of-hearing/

National Association of State Directors of Special Education [NASDSE]. (2018). Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Educational Service Guidelines, 3rd ed. www.nasdse.org

Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing. (2019). Can students who are D/HH access or be assessed via i-Ready? What are the alternatives to inaccessible assessments? FAQs. https://www.rmtcdhh.org/ufaqs/can-students-who-are-d-hh-access-or-be-assessed-via-i-ready-what-are-the-alternatives-to-inaccessible-assessments/

Supporting Success for Children with Hearing Loss. (2021). Planning to meet student needs. Supporting Success for Children with Hearing Loss. https://successforkidswithhearingloss.com/for-professionals/monitoring-progress-of-skill-building/

Tiggs, S. (n.d.). Progress monitoring in the deaf ed classroom. [LiveBinder]. https://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=2068122