Using PALS Quick Checks for Progress Monitoring in RtI
What is progress monitoring?
Progress Monitoring is frequent formative assessment measuring the same skill, at the same grade level
over time. It is typically curriculum-based measurement when intervening in academic areas.
Why do we use progress monitoring?
We progress monitor so we can determine if our interventions are working effectively. If they are not,
we can adjust our interventions accordingly. There are many benefits of progress monitoring, but one
of the biggest is that we can make more informed instructional decisions for our students.
Can we use PALS Quick Checks for progress monitoring a student receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 support
within the RtI model?
PALS Quick Checks do not have national norms which causes difficulty when trying to compare a student
to their peers.
We can use PALS to determine if there is a significant gap between the student’s performance and the
grade level expectations. A gap analysis is determined by dividing the expected benchmark by the
current student performance. This helps us determine how significant the concern is for the student. A
gap of 2.0 or greater is considered significant.
For PALS Quick Checks, we can do this by dividing the student’s current score by the ‘Mastery/Grade
Level Expectation’ found in the Matrix for Quick Checks and PALS Assessments. For example, when
progress monitoring a student with PALS Quick Check Letter Sounds, and they score 18. We can divide
18 (the student’s current performance level) by 26 (the ‘Mastery/Grade Level Expectation’) which would
give me 0.69. 18/26=0.69
This would tell me that the student has a gap between them and their peers of 0.69. While that is a
deficit, we would not consider this to be significant. We would still want to put an intervention in place
for this student and monitor it, but we would not have to use a tool such as AIMSweb.
If the gap is larger than 2.0, we should begin to monitor them with AIMSweb. A gap of 2.0 does not
necessarily mean they would qualify for special education services.
Our assumption should always be that the student is typical and will respond to general education
instruction alone. That being said, if we suspect a learning disability or if the gap is larger than 2.0, we
should begin to progress monitor the student with AIMSweb. AIMSweb allows us to use normative
comparisons around the student’s growth. It gives us typical rates of improvement and then calculates
the monitored student’s rate of improvement in comparison. PALS Quick Checks do not allow us to do
so at this time.