The following info was originally posted in the SLP Toolkit blog here.
Progress monitoring is an inevitable task that must be completed prior to closing out the end of the school year. While some SLPs use their session data to measure progress on IEP goals, we propose an easier way: Criterion-Referenced Tests.
Criterion-Referenced Tests are designed to measure student performance against a fixed set of predetermined criteria. They are not norm-referenced. Rather, an SLP can administer a test to obtain a baseline score at the start of an IEP and then re-administer this same test over the course of the IEP to analyze performance over time.
This makes progress monitoring time quick and efficient. With the test content already built into SLP Toolkit, each grading period is a breeze!
Here are two ideas for administering tests in an efficient way:
As groups come into the speech room for their regularly scheduled time toward the end of the grading period, administer the test to one student as the others are engaged in another activity.
During a group's regularly scheduled time (e.g. 10:00-10:45), if you have three students, pull one from 10:00-10:15, the next from 10:15-10:30, and the last from 10:30-10:45, and administer their individual tests accordingly.
SLP Toolkit scores the Criterion-Referenced Test for you, so all that is needed is to enter the score into the student's progress report.
No more pouring through data to generate the best score. No more working on progress reports over your vacation or at home. No more stress and anxiety over testing the dozens of students on your caseload.