Progress Monitoring and Data Collection Made Easy for the Primary Grades Teacher

I’m sharing my favorite tools to make progress monitoring and data collection easy with preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students! I use this online assessment tool year round for progress reports, report cards, and setting goals!

Hi Sweet Friends!

I am so excited to share a product with you that has literally changed my life.

Hands up if you have assessments all over the place in your classroom! I tried to use data folders, BOY assessments, EOY assessments, report cards, progress reports, pretests, posttests… does it ever end???

The biggest problem for me is that I had paperwork everywhere! I wanted to simplify my life, ditch all of those stacks of paper, and bid a fond farewell to the school’s copier. Who has time to run to that printer anyways?

I recently presented at SDE’s Alabama Kindergarten Conference. I had an absolute blast and it was such an honor to present alongside some of my favorite educational bloggers. I had heard about ESGI but didn’t really understand what it was or how it could help me.

Do you see those lovely ladies on each end? Rochelle and Kristen were so helpful in showing me how to implement ESGI in my classroom.

Honestly, the best way to understand how much time and energy ESGI will save you is by clicking through the link below and signing up for a free trial. There is absolutely no risk with the trial. If you decide to purchase the product, you will get $40 off each teacher’s license using my promo code “Pigtails”.  I fell in love with the product immediately and showed it to my administrators.

My advice: register for a free trial, use it for a month or two so you can see and understand how necessary it is, and then show it to your administrators! The code will also help save $ when your school or district purchases! 

 

ESGI Saved My Life – “Pigtails” Link

 

Let me share some of my favorite features with you!

• The biggest one is that ALL of my assessments are now online and I no longer have stacks and stacks of paper. At this time, there are over 700 pre-loaded assessments and it is growing. You will find assessments aligned to your standards, on your student’s level, and that go along with whatever you are teaching. I love that some of my favorite bloggers have FREE pre-loaded assessments for me to use. I can also CREATE my own assessment and it’s easy-peasy to do! Goodbye paper! Hello beautiful organized website!

• I can quickly log on and see my students’ individual progress and our progress as a whole. If you look at the picture above, I can easily see how many of my students have mastered each of these objectives. This is an easy way for me to plan ahead. Then I can look at an individual student and see what he or she specifically needs to work on. Where is he struggling? What skills does he excel in?

In the picture below, I clicked on the tab labeled “Phonemic Awareness”. I can use these tests, add other pre-made tests, or create my own!

• I love the way my data is stored. I am still assessing students one-on-one which I really appreciate. However, my data is immediately viewable in charts. I can quickly see what areas we need to work on. I can also choose to only test the student on the questions she previously missed. How many times have we wasted time and re-assessed students who have previously mastered the skill just because it’s hard to keep up with it all?

Isn’t that beautiful? I can simply test “incorrect” items. I love that!

This rhyming test was created by my friend Palma from KFUNdamentals!

• I can immediately print flash cards and a parent letter based on each student’s needs. No more filling out individual progress reports, checking boxes for what a student knows or doesn’t know, looking back through previous tests, etc. An editable parent letter is created for me along with a set of flash cards that my students can use. How great is that?!?!

 

I edited the name on this student and changed it to my daughter’s name to protect the student. You can see the individualized letter. It tells the parents exactly what the student missed and what she answered correctly. I can also print flash cards to go along with this letter.

Seriously! How great is that? I send them home on cardstock and let the parents cut them out. My parents and students LOVE these!

• I can schedule parent teacher conferences using the simple template and preloaded student names. They can be personalized in English or Spanish. This alone saves me so much time!

Make sure to use the promo code “Pigtails” to save yourself lots of money! It is already entered for you if you want to head straight to the website and check it out. Just click here:

 ESGI Saved My Life – “Pigtails” Link

Have you used ESGI in your classroom? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Teaching and Mommy-ing this week friends!