Caveat Classroom · Progress monitoring

Weekly probes.
Clear decisions.

For special education teachers, interventionists and SLPs. Original weekly probes with equivalent forms, a graph for every IEP goal with the aimline and the trend, the decision rules in plain words, and a one-page progress report. Student data stays in your browser.

Buy now, $29How the rules work
40reading passages
132math forms
48spelling lists
2decision rules

How it works

Built for the part of the job that happens every week: give the probe, score it, graph it, decide.

  1. Set up the caseload. Add each student by initials or a code, never a full name. Add one or more goals: the measure, the baseline, the goal and the goal date. The page can turn three baseline probes into a median for you.
  2. Give this week's probe. The page picks the next unused form. For reading, tap errors on the screen while a one-minute timer runs. For math and spelling, print the sheet, run the timer, then score on the page.
  3. See the graph. Every goal gets its scores, the aimline from baseline to goal, the trend line and phase lines for instruction changes, with your note.
  4. Read the rules. The four-point rule and the trend compared with the aimline, in plain words: consider a change, keep going, or consider raising the goal.
  5. Print the report. One page per goal for IEP progress reports and meetings: graph, data table, decision-rule summary and sentence starters you edit.
020406080Week 0Week 4Week 8Week 12Week 16Week 20A
Example data, not a real student. Baseline 40, goal 70 in 20 weeks, so the aimline (dashed) rises 1.5 a week. Weeks 2 to 5 sit below the aimline: the four-point rule says consider a change. A: added small-group repeated reading. The trend since the change (solid, ordinary least squares) is +1.71 a week, steeper than the aimline; the dotted line extends it to the goal date.

The probes

Original items and passages, written or generated for this product, with multiple equivalent forms at every level so weekly scores compare fairly.

40 passages

Oral reading fluency

Ten original passages for each grade band: 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8. Tap errors as the student reads, with a one-minute timer; the page computes words correct per minute and accuracy. Print a student copy and a scoring copy with word counts.

72 forms

Math fact fluency

Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, 6 fact sets with twelve forms each. Two minutes, scored as digits correct. Print the sheet and the answer key with running digit totals, or score on the page.

60 forms

Mixed computation

Grades 2 to 6, twelve forms per grade, each grade with its own fixed mix of problem types. Two minutes for grades 2 and 3, four for grades 4 to 6, scored as digits correct.

48 lists

Spelling

Twelve lists for each grade band, scored by correct letter sequences, which credit partly right spellings and show growth sooner than words right or wrong. The page paces the dictation for you.

Any count

Custom measures

Behavior frequency, percent of opportunities, a rubric score, minutes on task: anything you count, entered by hand, with goals that go up or down.

The one-page report

  • The graph with the aimline, the trend and any instruction changes.
  • A table of the scores and dates.
  • What the four-point rule and the trend rule say, in plain words.
  • A progress statement to choose, such as "making progress, but not yet enough to meet the goal by the goal date," with the data's suggestion marked.
  • Narrative sentence starters filled in from the data, which you edit before printing.
  • A clear line that these are classroom data, not a standardized assessment.

Print it or save it as a PDF from the print window, for IEP progress reports, team meetings and family conferences.

Student data stays with you

Students, goals and scores are saved only in the browser on the device you use. Nothing about a student is sent to Caveat or anyone else, and the page asks for initials or a code, never a full name, and warns you if a code looks like one.

Export saves everything to a file you can Import on another device or keep as a backup. Delete all clears this browser. Follow your school's rules for where student records may be kept.

Methods: how the probes, the graph and the rules work

Everything the page computes, with the sources behind the decision rules. Original probes and original wording throughout.

Scoring

  • Oral reading fluency is words correct per minute (WCPM): words read in one minute minus errors. Errors are words misread, skipped, or supplied by the teacher after about three seconds; a word the student corrects within about three seconds is correct, and repeated or added words are not errors. A student who finishes before the minute is scored as words correct × 60 ÷ seconds. Accuracy is words correct ÷ words read.
  • Digits correct, for math facts and mixed computation, counts each digit of the answer that is the right digit in the right place value, lined up from the ones place (and from the decimal point for decimals). A student who writes 15 for 14 earns 1 of 2. Only the answer is scored, not the work. Problems after the last one attempted do not count.
  • Correct letter sequences (CLS), for spelling, count pairs of neighboring letters that are right and in the right order, with the start and the end of the word counted as positions, so a word of n letters has n + 1 sequences. For train the six sequences are start-t, t-r, r-a, a-i, i-n and n-end. A student who writes tran earns 4 of 6: start-t, t-r, r-a and n-end. CLS gives credit for partly right spellings, so it shows growth weeks before whole words do. The page lines up the student's spelling with the correct one to credit the most pairs; unusual spellings can differ by a sequence from hand scoring, and you can type your own count instead.
  • Custom measures are whatever you count: behavior frequency, percent of opportunities, a rubric score. You enter the number and choose whether the goal is for it to go up or down.

The graph and the rules

  • Aimline: a straight line from the baseline (on the baseline date) to the goal (on the goal date). Its slope is the weekly growth the goal needs.
  • Trend line: ordinary least squares through the scores since the last instruction change (all scores if there is none), with time in weeks since the baseline date: slope = Σ(x − x̄)(y − ȳ) ÷ Σ(x − x̄)². The build checks the formula against a worked example (scores 2, 4, 5, 4, 5 at weeks 0 to 4 give a slope of 0.6 and an intercept of 2.8).
  • Four-point rule: look at the four most recent scores since the last change. If all four are below the aimline (above it, for a goal to reduce something), consider a change to instruction. If all four are on the better side, consider raising the goal. Otherwise keep going.
  • Trend compared with the aimline, once there are at least six scores since the last change: if the trend's weekly change is less than the aimline's, consider a change; if it is greater, consider raising the goal; within 10 percent of the aimline's weekly change counts as about the same, so keep going. The page also says where the trend would land on the goal date.
  • Instruction changes draw a phase line with your note. The rules then look only at the scores after it, so a new plan gets a fair start; the aimline stays the same.

The forms and how they were made equivalent

Weekly progress monitoring only works if this week's form is about as hard as last week's. Every form is original, written or generated for this product, and checked when the site is built.

Oral reading passages

Grade bandPassagesWordsReadability (Flesch-Kincaid grade)
Grades 1 and 210126 to 1370.1 to 2.5
Grades 3 and 410156 to 1842.2 to 5.2
Grades 5 and 610184 to 2034.6 to 7.3
Grades 7 and 810190 to 2266.5 to 9.4

Narrative and informational passages alternate within each band. Every passage in a band sits within 3 grade levels of the others on the Flesch-Kincaid formula, and the bands rise in difficulty. Readability formulas only count sentence and word length, so treat a single unusual score with care and look at the trend.

Math fact fluency (2 minutes)

Fact setFormsFacts on a formFacts with a 0 or a 1Digits possible
Addition facts, sums to 1012801298
Addition facts, sums to 18128012127
Subtraction facts, from 10 or less12801281
Subtraction facts, from 18 or less12801280
Multiplication facts, 0 to 10128012145
Division facts, divisors 1 to 1012801288

Each form draws the same number of facts from each group (facts with a 0 or a 1, one-digit answers, two-digit answers), so every form in a set has the same digits possible. No fact appears twice in a row.

Mixed computation

LevelFormsProblemsTimeDigits possibleProblem types
Grade 2 mixed computation12302 minutes63Addition and subtraction facts to 18; two-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping; three-digit addition and subtraction without regrouping.
Grade 3 mixed computation12302 minutes70Three-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping; multiplication and division facts; one digit times a multiple of ten; two-digit addition with regrouping.
Grade 4 mixed computation12244 minutes84Four-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping; two- and three-digit numbers times one digit; two digits times two digits; three-digit numbers divided by one digit with no remainder.
Grade 5 mixed computation12244 minutes84Three digits times two digits; four digits times one digit; four-digit numbers divided by two digits with no remainder; adding and subtracting decimals; a decimal times a whole number.
Grade 6 mixed computation12244 minutes80A decimal times a decimal; a decimal divided by a whole number; multi-digit division with no remainder; adding and subtracting decimals; whole-number division with a decimal answer.

Each grade uses one fixed sequence of problem types. Numbers are drawn inside each type's limits (with or without regrouping, the number of digits in the answer, division with no remainder), so every form has the same mix and the same digits possible. Every answer is computed with exact arithmetic and checked again. Two minutes for grades 2 and 3 and four minutes for grades 4 to 6 follow a common convention in curriculum-based measurement.

Spelling

Grade bandListsWordsPaceSpelling patterns, one word from each on every list
Grades 1 and 2121210 secondsshort a, short e and i, short o and u, sh, ch, th, blends at the start, blends at the end, long a with silent e, long i, o, u with silent e, ee and ea, ai and ay, ar and or, -ing and -ed
Grades 3 and 412177 secondsoa and ow, ou and ow, oi and oy, er, ir, ur, igh, soft c and g, doubling before -ing and -ed, dropping silent e, y to i, plurals with -es, compound words, -le endings, silent letters kn, wr, mb, prefixes un- and re-, suffixes -ful, -less, -ly, two-syllable words, words to know by heart
Grades 5 and 612177 seconds-tion, -sion, -ture, -ous, -able and -ible, -ance and -ence, ph and ch from Greek, prefixes dis-, mis-, pre-, -ment and -ness, doubling in longer words, ei and ie, unstressed vowels, silent letters, Latin roots, f to v plurals, -er and -est, often misspelled
Grades 7 and 812177 seconds-cian, -ant and -ent, Greek roots, changed prefixes, -ary, -ery, -ory, -ize, -ise, -yze, double consonants, -ious and -eous, -ible and -able, -ence and -ance, unusual spellings, Latin roots, qu, ei words, -al, -el, -il endings, gh and ough, often misspelled

Every list has one word from each spelling-pattern group, in a shuffled order, so lists in a band are built alike. Twelve words at 10 seconds for grades 1 and 2, and seventeen at 7 seconds for grades 3 to 8, both about two minutes, follow common practice.

Oral reading rates for context

Hasbrouck and Tindal's compiled oral reading fluency norms describe typical words correct per minute by grade and season, gathered on standardized passages. Many teams use them as context when setting a reading fluency goal. Caveat's passages are not those passages and are not equated to them, so a score here is not a percentile and should not be read against the norms table as if it were. We do not reproduce the norms; see the source below.

Limits worth knowing

  • Weekly scores bounce. A single high or low week means little; the decision rules exist to look past it, and more data makes them steadier.
  • Research on decision rules for oral reading probes finds that judgments made from only a few weeks of data can be wrong in either direction. Treat the rules as prompts and confirm with more data when the stakes are high.
  • Probes measure fluency in a narrow task. They do not replace comprehension checks, observations, work samples or a full evaluation.
  • Give probes the same way each week: same time of day, same setting, the next unused form.

Sources

  1. National Center on Intensive Intervention, American Institutes for Research. Data-based individualization and progress monitoring guidance, including graphing progress monitoring data, the four-point rule and comparing the trend with the goal line. intensiveintervention.org. Used for the general approach to the decision rules; the wording and the 10 percent band are ours.
  2. Hasbrouck, J., and Tindal, G. (2017). An update to compiled ORF norms (Technical Report No. 1702). Eugene, OR: Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon. Cited for context on oral reading rates; not reproduced.
  3. Deno, S. L. (1985). Curriculum-based measurement: The emerging alternative. Exceptional Children, 52(3), 219 to 232. The foundation for brief, repeated, timed probes.
  4. Hosp, M. K., Hosp, J. L., and Howell, K. W. (2016). The ABCs of CBM: A practical guide to curriculum-based measurement (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. General conventions for scoring digits correct and correct letter sequences.
  5. Ardoin, S. P., Christ, T. J., Morena, L. S., Cormier, D. C., and Klingbeil, D. A. (2013). A systematic review and summarization of the recommendations and research surrounding curriculum-based measurement of oral reading fluency (CBM-R) decision rules. Journal of School Psychology, 51(1), 1 to 18. Why the page treats the rules as prompts.
  6. Kincaid, J. P., Fishburne, R. P., Rogers, R. L., and Chissom, B. S. (1975). Derivation of new readability formulas for Navy enlisted personnel (Research Branch Report 8-75). Naval Technical Training Command. The readability formula used to check passages.
  7. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.320(a)(3): an IEP describes how progress toward the annual goals will be measured and when periodic reports on that progress will be provided. In general federal terms; states add their own rules.

Caveat Progress Monitor

The probes, the graphs, the decision rules and the reports for one teacher's caseload for a school year.

$29one teacher, a school yearBuy now

Buy now adds it to your cart; check out with a card. Free with Caveat staff access and with school licenses that include Caveat Classroom: the button opens it.

For schools

Every teacher, interventionist and SLP on staff gets Progress Monitor with a Caveat school license that includes Classroom, along with Studio for IEPs and the professional development courses, including Writing Strong IEPs. See school licenses.

Related

Studio for IEPs drafts present levels and measurable goals for your team to review. The free teacher tools include an IEP goal builder and behavior data sheets.

Caveat Progress Monitor gives classroom progress monitoring data: brief curriculum-based probes that a teacher gives and scores. It is not a standardized or norm-referenced assessment, it does not give percentiles, standard scores or grade equivalents, and it does not diagnose anything. The decision rules are prompts for the IEP team to consider, not decisions.

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Caveat Progress Monitor gives classroom progress monitoring data: brief curriculum-based probes that a teacher gives and scores. It is not a standardized or norm-referenced assessment, it does not give percentiles, standard scores or grade equivalents, and it does not diagnose anything. The decision rules are prompts for the IEP team to consider, not decisions. Caveat Academic Services is independent and not affiliated with any school district, test publisher or the National Center on Intensive Intervention.