At Edutools we are committed to give you flexible tools and provide with accurate information about your data to help you make the best decisions. As part of this commitment we are excited to inform you that our progress monitoring graph just got better!

In our original design, the legend was placed within the graph area. While this is a traditional placement, depending on your data this can interfere with visual analysis; so we moved it below the graph.

Our team has been working to make sure that all of the analysis of the data is done by our servers, so that you can quickly and accurately assess progress. To this end we have added a textual analysis below your graph.  Below is a quick summary of the new features.

New Goal Statement

Goal

• In [Number] weeks, [Student Name] will obtain [goal] [units].
• Example:  “In 36 weeks, Michael will obtain 55 correct words read correctly”

Focus on Growth

Growth is measured in the units that you have selected per week. It is calculated as the best fit line from using the week number as the predictor and the recorded score as the outcome. A separate slope is recorded for the overall data, and for each intervention phase. The examination of growth is one way we can determine if all of the effort we are putting into intervention is helping the student accelerate toward benchmark goals.

Baseline Slope

•  Baseline slope is calculated to provide you an estimate of the direction of performance without intervention. In data collection we often want to see a relatively flat slope during baseline so that we can compare it to growth that occurs after baseline.

Overall Slope

• The overall slope is calculated using all of the data that was collected giving you the clearest look at how the student's performance changed during the time in which progress was monitored.   This slope provides the most complete information about the student’s progress as it considers all of the data in establishing the trend line.  However, this slope can conceal differential impact across phases.

Intervention slopes

• When interventions are not having the effect that we want them to have we should change what we are doing, and make a note in the intervention change in our graphs.  Edutools will calculate a separate slope for each intervention phase that is recorded. In this way you can look to see if one intervention phase has been associated with more or less growth than other intervention phases.

Focus on the Percent Attained

Sometimes we are more interested in the level of performance than we are interested in growth. We hear people talking about closing the gap and this makes sense in terms of whether or not there is sufficient educational need. As a measurement, the "Gap"  is a bit counterintuitive. While the "Gap" is focused on how much is left to get from where we are to where we want to be, percent attained focuses on how far we have come. Mathematically when the percentage attained is added to the "Gap"  the result is the criterion (i.e.,  the goal or the normative comparison group). Simply speaking the percent attained refers to the difference in performance our student has demonstrated when compared to criteria. Percentage attained is divided into three sections:

The Percent of the Goal Attained

• The percent of goal attained section answers the question; What is the percent of the goal has been met? The percent of goal attained maintains a focus on the goal that was set as a comparison, and because of this simple addition and subtraction of percentages can tell you the degree to which meaningful growth is being observed.
• This percentage is calculated in at the beginning and end of the baseline phase to provide an estimate of performance at the beginning of the schedule (initial performance)
• The percent of goal attained is also calculated based on the best fit line on the last week of data collected.

The Percent of Normative Performance Attained

• The percentage of normative performance attained provides an estimate of performance based on a comparison to what is typical. Because normative performance is most often changing over time, the percentages must be interpreted in terms of what typical peers are expected to be able to do at the beginning or end of the schedule.  This can be associated with the question; Is there a sizable difference between the performance e of the student and peers?

The Percent of the Goal Attained by the end of the (nth) Intervention

• As with growth, changes in intervention are expected to have different outcomes.  Edutools will calculate a separate percentage of goal attained  for each intervention phase that is recorded. In this way you can look to see if one intervention phase has been associated with closing the gap more or less than others.

An Empirical Evaluation

The evaluation component of Edutools is the keystone separating our evaluation from everyone else. Edutools does not make guesses about what might happen at some point in the future, or count individual data points, instead Edutools calculates a confidence interval around the fitted regression line to estimate the variability of the data in relation to the goal at the point of data collection, and provides an easy to understand evaluative statement, either the data indicates the trend is significantly below the aimline, below the aimline but not significantly, above the aimline but not significantly, or significantly above the aimline.

For a more advanced look at the data, Edutools will also calculate a curve to fit your data and provide an evaluative statement based on the confidence within the curvilinear structure of the data. This clear cut approach allows educators to spend more time teaching and less time attempting to interpret complex data.

At Edutools we are committed to give you flexible tools and provide with accurate information about your data to help you make the best decisions.  If you have any questions about how our system works feel free to contact our staff.