How to Monitor Secondary Student Progress
Secondary students, those in seventh through 12th grades, are responsible for learning and mastering many increasingly complex skills. Because of this, teachers need to monitor their progress frequently in order to be able to give feedback to students and parents. Students learn in a variety of ways, and progress-monitoring techniques need to reflect this. Among these are informal and formals assessments, observations and work samples.
Instructions
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Assess students frequently. Tests do not have to be lengthy; they can include teacher-made tests or brief standardized assessments that monitor progress on specific skills, mainly reading and math. Longer tests, like state-mandated ones, are usually given at the end of the year. They give a more accurate picture of a student's progress throughout the school term.
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Conduct academic interventions--short tutoring sessions with individual or small groups of students. Sessions can last 15 to 30 minutes and focus on only one or two skills. Assessments and observations will usually alert you to students who need to be targeted for remediation.
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Observe your students every day. You can do this formally with a checklist, making notes about a student's level of understanding and ways to address any problem areas. However, informal observations are usually more telling because you do this while students are applying skills or learning in cooperative groups.
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Evaluate student portfolios--collections of their work completed over a specified time period. Portfolios are useful for providing an in-depth look at a student's progress in specific skills as well as overall achievement. Make room in the portfolios to include rubrics that explain grading techniques and leave comments with suggestions and feedback.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit student image by Ivanna Buldakova from Fotolia.com
