The problem with pass/fail measures is that they don’t capture the full range of individual growth. Setting the goal is important, but how each student gets there will naturally follow different paths. I am often asked what constitutes good progress in BrightFish Reading. My answer? That depends…

Averages and benchmark metrics are important for setting performance baselines, but it’s even more interesting to see a progress profile emerge for each student. Data from online instructional programs can help create personal learning profiles that reinforce and sometimes challenge observations in the classroom.

In BrightFish Reading, we track the story completion rate for each student. As part of our guidelines, we provide average metrics based on age and reading level. For example, the average completion rate for a story unit in 6th grade is one hour. Some students in a 6th-grade class may be way off the average, taking two-plus hours to complete a unit. The teacher asks, “Should I reassign a lower Lexile of stories for these students?”

Looking at the student details, you can quickly see that the average is longer but the completion rates are improving with each story. Measured objectively against the class average, the student is lagging behind. Look more closely at his personal profile, however, and you can see the improvement from story to story, along with the estimated trend line of how many stories he will need to complete to approach the average pace. 

 

Staying with this example, the teacher can then look at the activity scores for vocabulary and comprehension work. If the scores are also improving along with the rate, the increase in speed and volume of work is not coming at the expense of the quality and accuracy of student responses. Improvements in foundation skills, understanding learning objectives and increased focus all contribute to the full picture of a student’s personalized learning profile. 

 

Should the student be given easier material? No. He’s exactly where he needs to be in order to make progress in his reading. Obviously, each child needs to move toward an end goal that will make it possible to pass year-end and high-stakes tests. The personal path to get there makes the learning achievements even more significant than the raw pass/fail numbers can measure.