IEP progress monitoring glossary
The words and abbreviations you will meet in data meetings and progress reports. Where a federal rule applies we name it. Entries marked as practice terms are not defined in the federal rules, and districts and publishers may use other names.
A
- ABC data
- A record of what happened before a behavior (antecedent), the behavior itself, and what followed (consequence). Practice term. Teams use it to look for patterns in when and why a behavior happens. It is a way of recording observations, and it does not by itself explain a behavior.
- Aimline
- A straight line from the baseline to the goal, showing the growth needed to reach the goal on time. Practice term, also called a goal line. Plot student data against it to see whether growth is keeping pace. The line is a planning tool built from your numbers, not a prediction.
- Annual goal
- A measurable target the IEP team expects a student to reach within the IEP year. The IEP must contain measurable annual goals designed to meet the student's needs that result from the disability. Your data are what show whether a goal is being met.Federal rule: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(2)
B
- Baseline
- The student's performance on a skill before instruction on a goal begins. Practice term. A baseline is a measured starting point with a date, a task, and conditions. It is usually part of the present levels section, and the goal is measured the same way the baseline was.
- Benchmark
- A score used as a reference point, such as the score a student is expected to reach by a certain time. Practice term. Publishers and districts set benchmarks for their own measures. A benchmark describes expected performance on that measure and is not the same as an IEP goal.
C
- Criterion
- The level of performance that counts as meeting a goal, such as 80 percent or 90 words per minute. Practice term. A criterion says how well, how often, or how independently the student must perform. A goal without one cannot be called met or not met.
- Curriculum-based measurement (CBM)
- Brief, repeated measures of skills such as oral reading, math computation, or writing, used to track growth over time. Practice term. CBM probes are short and standardized, so scores from different weeks can be compared. Publishers and states describe specific CBM procedures and norms.
D
- Data point
- One recorded score on a graph, taken on one day with one measure. Practice term. A data point should be labeled with a date, and the conditions should be noted when they change.
- Decision rule
- A rule written in advance that says what the team will do when data look a certain way. Practice term. An example is "if four consecutive points fall below the aimline, review the intervention." The federal rule does not set decision rules. Teams and districts choose them.
- Duration recording
- Timing how long a behavior or activity lasts each time it happens. Practice term. It suits goals about how long a student stays with a task or how long an outburst lasts.
E
- Event (frequency) recording
- Counting how many times a behavior happens in an observation period. Practice term. Counts are only comparable when the observation periods are the same length, or when you convert them to a rate.
I
- Implementation fidelity
- How closely an intervention was carried out as planned. Practice term. A flat graph means little if the intervention was only partly delivered. Many decision rules ask teams to check fidelity first.
- Interval recording
- Dividing an observation into short intervals and noting whether a behavior occurred in each. Practice term. Variations include whole-interval and partial-interval recording. It gives an estimate of how much a behavior occurs, not an exact count.
L
- Latency
- The time between a cue or instruction and the start of a response. Practice term. It suits goals about how quickly a student starts a task or responds to a direction.
M
- Mastery
- Meeting the criterion in the goal for the stated number of times or checks. Practice term. The IEP goal should say what counts as mastery, for example "in three of four weekly checks."
- Measurable annual goal
- A goal written so that progress toward it can be counted, timed, or scored. IDEA requires measurable annual goals and a description of how progress will be measured and when reports will be given.Federal rule: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(2) and (a)(3)
P
- Present levels (PLAAFP)
- The IEP section that describes how the student is performing now. PLAAFP stands for present levels of academic achievement and functional performance. It anchors the goals, and baselines usually appear in it.Federal rule: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(1)
- Probe
- A brief measure given now and then, rather than at every session, to check performance. Practice term. Probes can be used before and after instruction, or on a schedule such as weekly.
- Progress monitoring
- Regularly measuring a student's performance on a goal to see whether instruction is working. Practice term. The IEP must describe how progress toward each annual goal will be measured, and when periodic reports will be given to parents.Federal rule: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(3)
- Progress report
- A periodic update to parents on a student's progress toward annual goals. The IEP must say when reports will be provided, such as quarterly or with report cards. The rule leaves format and content to states and districts.Federal rule: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(3)
R
- Rate of improvement (ROI)
- How much a student's score grows per unit of time, often per week. Practice term. A simple version is the gain between two scores divided by the weeks between them. Other versions fit a line through many points.
- Rubric
- A scoring guide that describes what each level of performance looks like. Practice term. A rubric turns a quality judgment into a score only if each level is described in words that two scorers would read the same way.
S
- Slope
- The steepness of a line, here the average change in score from one data point to the next. Practice term. A trendline's slope summarizes growth across all the points rather than only the first and last.
T
- Trendline
- A line fitted through the data points that summarizes their direction. Practice term. A common choice is an ordinary least squares line. Compare its slope with the aimline's slope.
- Trial
- One opportunity for the student to respond, scored as correct or incorrect. Practice term. Counting trials lets you report "8 of 10" instead of only a percent.