The effects of progress monitoring and consultation on emergent literacy performance as measured by the individual growth and development indicators.

Abstract

An increased emphasis on data-based decision making has resulted in pressures on educational institutions to find new and innovative ways to reach and assess students at younger and younger ages. At the preschool level progress-monitoring tools are being utilized to inform instruction and intervention, and ideally, improving student outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of progress monitoring, both with and without the addition of a consultation model on student performance as measure by the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) with preschool aged students. Research questions, including: To what extent does the administration of the IGDIs measures as progress monitoring tools alone have an effect on student achievement both with and without consultation, and how does disability status moderate these findings are addressed. Additionally, this study intended to qualitatively assess teacher pedagogy as a function of progress-monitoring. Participants were 150 preschool students, ages 3-5, enrolled in either urban or suburban early childhood education programs including Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), YMCA preschool, High Fives, YWCA preschool, school readiness or private preschool. ANOVA, Hierarchical Multivariate Linear Modeling (HMLM) and effect size analyses were used to examine the relationship between progress monitoring (both with and without consultation) and student performance. Results suggest progress monitoring as an intervention resulted in positive effects on student achievement compared to Control, while progress monitoring with the addition of a behavioral consultation model produced positive effects on student achievement compared to Control, but not above and beyond the effects of progress monitoring alone. When these results were further examined by disability status, results indicated mixed findings suggesting future studies investigating progress monitoring with students with disabilities is warranted. Implications for best practice, merits and limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.