On Monday, the teacher assigns her class a list of 20 spelling words to learn. On Friday, she tests the students on how well they learned to spell these words. This "mastery measurement" is the traditional way of determining student progress. The next spelling mastery test will indicate mastery of the next week's 20 new words, a new skill. Throughout the year, the teacher will test for different skills in different academic areas. When a math test in November covers one set of skills and a math test the next May covers a different set of skills, these test scores can't be compared. Thus, teachers and parents may be uncertain whether students have maintained the skills taught earlier in the year, and the student's rate of progress can't be described. Another method of determining student progress, more recently researched, checks how well students are doing through a process called "progress monitoring." Teachers do this monitoring regularly--weekly or monthly--for two reasons. One is to determine whether the students are learning what is being taught. And two, if the students are not learning, then test results will show what instruction is needed to pinpoint and address problem areas. This brief was developed to help you understand progress monitoring--a scientifically based process of assessing students' performance on a regular basis--and how progress monitoring may be used in your son's or daughter's school.