Progress Monitoring and Data-Based Decision Making (DBDM)

Progress monitoring is a systemic and continuous process of gathering data to inform decisions about whether children are making adequate progress. Data-based decision making involves small teams meeting regularly to analyze student performance. Together, progress monitoring and data-based decision making ensure teams know how children are responding to instruction and there is a process for rapidly making data-based decisions about any changes to instruction that are needed. Unlike K-12 universal screening tools, preschool universal screening tools typically cannot also be used as progress monitoring tools because they cannot be given enough frequency to monitor instruction effectiveness. Therefore, early childhood programs are encouraged to use Common Formative Assessments (CFA) to collect data on children’s mastery of the specific skills being taught. Collecting and graphing progress-motoring data over multiple weeks provides teams with a visual pattern of skill acquisition; while using that data to make instructional decisions results in children making more progress.

Title Resource Category Description
MTSS Assessment Checklist Checklist Provides an overview of important characteristics of a universal screening tool and/or progress monitoring tool.
Common Formative Assessment (CFA) Module Training module Part of the Missouri District Continuous Improvement Framework, this module can be useful in helping teachers understand the practices associated common formative assessment. This module can also be found in the Missouri Virtual Learning Platform.
Three Circles of Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Early Childhood Article From WestEd—National Center for Systemic Improvement, this resource helps early childhood professionals understand the multiple sources of evidence to determine intervention effectiveness.
Data-Based Decision Making (DBDM) Module Training module Part of the Missouri District Continuous Improvement Framework, this module can be useful in helping teachers understand the practices associated team data-based decision making. This module can also be found in the Missouri Virtual Learning Platform.