Correct Response: C. The primary purpose and benefit of progress-monitoring is to adjust instruction according to a student's response to the instruction. Progress-monitoring needs to occur frequently to be effective, so it is important that it captures even small improvements, which will help the teacher make appropriate adjustments to the content, intensity, or pace of the differentiated instruction or intervention. Option A is incorrect because monitoring students' stronger skills with the same frequency as the students' weaker skills would not be an efficient use of assessment because it would not necessarily result in information that can inform instruction in the students' area(s) of need. Option B is incorrect because standardized, norm- referenced assessments are not designed to be given frequently or show incremental progress. They are summative in nature and indicate how the students compare with other students in a particular area of reading. They do not provide information about how to adjust differentiated instruction or an intervention. Option D is incorrect because group-administered assessments would not present the same opportunities as individual assessments for the teacher to identify nuances of a student's performance that might result in adjustment of instruction. In addition, some skills assessments must be administered individually.
