Federal and state legislation has placed a renewed emphasis on accountability and academic outcomes among students who are deaf or hard of hearing. While much attention is given to norm-referenced standardized testing accommodations, there is a need for functional formative assessments for the purpose of monitoring students' academic progress. This paper addresses some of the evaluative perspective of students' academic performance within the field of deaf education and the critical need for progress monitoring. A brief review is included of studies conducted using Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) with students who are deaf and hard of hearing. (Contains 2 figures.)