Understanding Near-Zero Progress: What It Means When the First Semester Shows Little or No Growth
By: Becca Phillips, Advocate
For parents, they want to see their children make growth and for teachers, they want to see those children who are their students make growth; growth academically, socially, and emotionally. However, in the instance your child's first semester report card shows little or near-zero progress, it will understandably raise concerns and you may find yourself asking questions like: Is this normal? Is my child struggling and why? Did I miss something? Did the school miss something? What do I do next to support my child?
A lack of progress does not mean that is the end all be all. It does however provide information that can help you as parents or guardians, as well as teachers, adjust your child’s supports, dig in to better understand your child’s needs, and make a plan for the months moving forward. In this blog we’re going to talk about what near-zero progress means and how you can proactively respond.
What Does “Near-Zero Progress” Mean?
Near-zero progress refers to a situation where a student is not improving at the expected rate in their academic skills, behavior, communication, or functional goals. This can look like:
Stagnant reading levels. This may look like a student who scored 53 words per minute on their winter reading fluency assessment and then scored 52 words per minute on their spring assessment. Or a student who continues making the same phonics errors when decoding across the entire semester.
Minimal improvement in reading, writing, or math. For example, a child who was able to write a 3-sentence paragraph in September who in December is still only writing 2-3 simple, incomplete sentences.
Continued difficulty with behavior or attention. This may present as a student who continues to have the same number of behavior escalations or outbursts per week mid year as they did in the beginning of the year.
Poor generalization of skills taught
Meeting none or only a few IEP goals
Continued difficulties in executive functioning or functional skills that data tracking shows little to no improvement
Near-zero progress doesn’t necessarily mean your child isn’t learning, but it does mean that the current supports aren’t meeting their needs effectively to demonstrate growth.
Lack of Progress is Feedback, Not Failure
Every child is going to learn at a different pace and there’s a number of factors that can be influencing and/or impeding their progress. Those factors may include:
A new diagnosis or medical condition
Increased curriculum and academic demands
Anxiety, attention difficulties, or executive functioning struggles
Classroom instruction that does not match your child’s learning style
Inconsistent or limited service minutes
Instruction or intervention that is not evidence-based
Behavior or sensory needs that impact the ability to attend to learning
Understanding your child’s impeding factors helps shift the narrative from “My child is failing” or “My child is making no growth” to “Let me dig in and better understand their needs and work with their teachers on how we can best support them.”
Why Early Recognition Matters
When you can see little or no progress after the first semester, it is still early enough to adjust instruction and services before the whole year has slipped by. It signals the needs for implementing different strategies, accommodations, or services and it helps schools identify a) if changes need to be made to a student's IEP or 504 Plan or b) initiate consent to evaluate for special education or determine eligibility for a 504 Plan. Early recognition and identification of students not making expected progress helps both you as parents or guardians, and educators, intervene with purpose rather than waiting and hoping for growth.
Steps You Can Take Right Now
Below are some suggestions of actionable steps you can take now instead of waiting and hoping for growth with the current supports:
Request a meeting with your child’s teacher and/or IEP team. Ask for data such as: progress monitoring data, work samples, behavior records, attendance records, observation notes. You can ask what interventions are being used to support your child? How consistently are they being implemented? What is the progress monitoring data on those interventions?
Ask if there have been any instructional changes. If the current strategy or approach has not been working, explore alternatives like more frequent or intensive services, use of different intervention programs, small group or 1 on 1 instructions, positive behavior supports, multisensory instruction.
Review annual IEP goals or intervention group progress monitoring goals. Sometimes the goals will need be more specific, more measurable, more aligned with your child’s needs and skill level, broken down into small steps with the inclusion of objectives.
Ask for additional assessments. If you have continued concerns, it may be necessary to ask for a reevaluation and for new testing to understand all areas of need, such as academics, speech and language, occupational therapy, motor, sensory, behavior, social emotional factors, attention, or executive functioning skills.
Ask if there have been teacher or staffing changes. Changes in teachers could also mean changes in teaching styles and learning styles for students.
Monitor progress frequently. Instead of quarterly progress monitoring you may want to request progress monitoring more frequently. This may look like monthly check-ins with updated data to ensure the implemented changes are occurring.
What to Watch For Moving Forward
Even after new supports or services are added, you’ll want to continue monitoring to make sure you child is showing incremental progress, is feeling less frustrated and more successful, is completing work more independently, retaining skills better, and has an improvement in their confidence. By continually monitoring progress, you’ll be able to stay on top of whether or not progress is being made or if still minimal, further changes or more intensive support are needed.
Remember that not all progress is linear. Students learn and show growth at different rates. Some students may make slower gains in the beginning but accelerate later on with the right tools, accommodations, and supports. You are your child’s best advocate so if you are concerned about their progress, trust your instincts and voice your concerns. You don’t have to wait months on end or for the end of the school year or annual IEP meeting/504 Plan review to ask questions and request changes. You are a core member of your child’s educational team and your voice matters! Partnering with the school will make the greatest difference in your child’s success. So while seeing near-zero progress can be concerning and confusing, it is also a tool to help guide intervention and get to the root of what struggles your child is experiencing.
