If you missed Part 1 on “How I Collect Progress Monitoring in the Co-Taught Classroom (for writing goals),” or just have no idea what my three part blog post is about – haha, you can click here.  I share with you at the beginning how this three part blog post came to be, as well as some other cool stuff to catch you up to speed with this Part 2 post.

For Part 2 of this three part blog post, I’m talking all about collecting progress monitoring in the co-taught classroom for reading goals.  As I stated in the previous blog post, I went through a lot of trial and error to find a progress monitoring collecting system that worked best for me while I was in the regular classroom (grades 6 – 12). All classrooms are different, all grade levels are different, and all work environments are different, but I hope that I am able to provide some advice/guidance on collecting progress monitoring in the regular classroom you are co-teaching in.

I’m going to first start with progress monitoring reading comprehension. I’m starting with comprehension goals first because it’s probably the most common goal I monitored, and continue to monitor, in the middle school/high school setting.

I collected comprehension progress a few different ways, over the past few years.  My collection method depended upon the regular teacher I was co-teaching with, the number of students I was collecting progress on, the classroom environment in general, etc.

The first way I am going to share with you is a lot like how I collected progress for writing goals.  I turned “bell ringers” into quick comprehension checks, for the co-taught ELA class I was in.  I would hand the quick checks out individually to each student, as they arrived into the classroom.  I did this because the quick checks were slightly adapted for my special education students, so I wanted to make sure each of my students I was monitoring got the correct quick check.  When I say slightly adapted, I mean that if a quick check question required students to fill in the blank I would adapt the quick check to provide options for that answer.

I would make about 3-5  questions on each quick check – it’s a bell ringer, so I didn’t want for it to cut into instruction time.  Just like the writing prompts all quick checks appeared the same at a glance.  I would hand out quick checks Mon. – Thurs. (Friday’s were for progress monitoring writing goals).  If I gave 3 or 5 questions a day per quick check, that was 12-20 questions I could collect progress monitoring from. The questions were easy questions for me to come up with.  They didn’t require much work on my end. I’d say the majority of the quick checks I made, came from what the class read the prior day, or if something wasn’t read I would ask questions about something that was discussed.  These quick checks were not graded.  However, the students were awarded bell ringer points.  Often times, the questions were even used on their tests later at the end of a unit/novel. So, these quick checks were taken seriously.  I would even read them aloud to the entire class, for my struggling readers. The quick checks provided me with data collection, and the students with an opportunity to review for an upcoming test.  A win for us all!

I loved collecting progress that way.  It was easy for the regular teacher and myself to administer and it was consistent.  The students knew what to expect every Monday – Thursday. Here comes the first “but.” There were times I was unable to do bell ringers in class, because it just didn’t work in the classroom environment. One year, I had to come up with a progress monitoring plan with the regular teacher.  This teacher enjoyed centers.  I suggested to create a center where all students came to me, we read together, and then the students would answer a short set of questions.  We devoted one day a week to centers. This center was my full responsibility.

Now I need to let you in on a little secret before I continue, I LOVE using the ReadWorks.org site. It’s free for teachers and I couldn’t suggest it more – if looking for short passages to collect comprehension (or even fluency) progress monitoring. You can select passages by grade level, and then you are provided with comprehension questions, the number of words, the genre, and even the standards. ALL of this is free! A teachers dream! 

My students who were in the co-taught ELA classroom I was teaching in were not significantly below their grade level.  If they were significantly lower, they would have been pulled out into the learning support classroom. With keeping that in mind, when I was choosing reading passages to use I typically went just below grade level or stayed on grade level.  It really all depended upon the specific student goal I was monitoring. The students weren’t grouped for centers based on their learning ability levels, the centers were mixed with ALL different student learning ability levels.  I had to choose stories that weren’t too challenging for my special education students to read and that were not too easy for those students with higher reading ability levels. Each group that would come to me would take turns reading.  I never forced anyone to read. Once reading was finished, the students would answer the comprehension questions that came with the passage.  If it was necessary, I would discretely adapt, beforehand, any questions for my special education students.  I would read each question to the group of students.  I don’t believe the general education students ever noticed that a set of comprehension questions was adapted next to them. I think because they were in such proximity to me that they were nervous for me to catch their eyes wandering to their neighbors paper – haha. Just like the bell ringer quick checks, these reading passages weren’t graded. They were taken as points for completing that specific center.

Here comes the second “but.” There was a year when bell ringers and centers didn’t work for the classroom I was co-teaching in. There were even times when I knew I wouldn’t have the data I would need to collect for that week – due to holidays, field trips, assemblies, etc..   For these times, I would ask the student to meet me during one homeroom period, and I would give them a reading passage with comprehension questions to answer.

Progress Monitoring for reading fluency in the co-taught ELA classroom was a bit different.  At the high school level, and even at the middle school level, I have really never had too many students with a fluency goal in a co-taught classroom.  Sure, they had a reading disability, but mostly in comprehension and if they weren’t “fast” readers they at least were able to read every word in a passage.  However, there were just a few occasions a student did have a fluency goal.  When this happened, I would print ReadWorks reading passages, based on their reading fluency level.  To be completely honest, I really didn’t like to have them read out loud to me in the co-taught classroom.  They were uncomfortable, which made me uncomfortable. Also, I never force anyone to read out loud.  I would have the student meet me during homeroom once a week, or if I knew a student was scheduled to have a test that needed to be read in my room during the week I would have the student stay and read to me after the test. This always seemed to work well.

There was one time that I remember, I had a 6th grader in a co-taught ELA class that’s fluency goal was based off of a sight word list.  This student’s comprehension skills were fantastic, but the student struggled with basic reading fluency skills. I would have this student meet me at the beginning of each week and we would go over the list of sight words that were going to be monitored for progress on that following Friday.  Sometimes we met during homeroom, or sometimes this student didn’t mind waiting after ELA class to go over the list.  I feel like this method would really depend upon the student you were working with. 


So, if you didn’t read my first post, you might be wondering what I did with all this progress monitoring I distributed and then collected.

In my co-teaching binder that I would carry, I always had a list of the special education students I was responsible for and their IEP goals and accommodations.  I never just had the students on my caseload – I also had students who were on other special education teachers’ caseloads.  This means I didn’t just collect progress for the students on my caseload, I was responsible for them all.

Along with a list of the special education students I was responsible for and each of his/hers goals, I also had sections in my binder for each type of goal I was monitoring – I kept it super simple to just writing, reading, and math. At the beginning of each section I kept a master list of the students I was collecting progress on, the date progress was monitored, and the score each student received.  Behind this master list is where I kept the copies I made of each completed reading passage.

Although I haven’t hauled a huge binder around these past two years, I still keep a progress monitoring binder in my classroom.  I still organize it the exact same way. It took me awhile to find a routine that worked best for me.  I’m not going to change it until I absolutely have to! – haha.

I know this post is geared towards upper grades, but having also been an elementary special education teacher for 5 out of my 12 years I feel this could also work for those co-teachers in the lower grades.  Your students might not be to the point of reading somewhat lengthy passages, but you can find a reading passage to be just a few sentences or even use centers to have students read/practice sight word lists.

As I said in the beginning this is what has worked for me.  I invite you to please leave how you collect progress as a co-teacher, down below in the comments! I want this post to be as helpful as possible – to all of us wondering how we can successfully progress monitor in the co-taught classroom.