Progress monitoring provides ongoing data on students' reading development. What is its primary use?

• A. To adjust teaching strategies and interventions
• B. To determine if a student should be held back a grade
• C. To replace diagnostic testing
• D. To evaluate the teacher's performance

Answer: (A)

Progress monitoring is ongoing, formative data collection that tracks how a student is developing reading skills over time. The primary use is to adjust teaching strategies and interventions based on how the student responds to instruction. When the data show that a student is making adequate progress, you can continue with the current approaches; if progress is slower than expected, you can modify instruction, add targeted practice, or introduce different strategies to support growth. This creates a responsive loop where instruction is continually aligned to the learner’s needs. It’s different from diagnostic testing, which identifies specific strengths and weaknesses at a single point in time, and from summative assessments, which evaluate achievement after a period. It also isn’t used to decide grade retention or to judge teacher performance, which involve separate processes and data.