Interpreting Get it Got it Go! Reports

• What do the lines on the report mean?
• How do I use the Get it Got it Go! reports?
• Are there alternatives to using the aim line as the desired rate of growth for my students?
• How do I create and use a local standard?
• Final notes on interpreting reports

What do the lines on the report mean?

The aim line (in gold) and trend line (in green) in our reports are important concepts to understand in progress monitoring and decision making using an IGDI.

An aim line is the visual description of the desired rate of growth or long term goal for a given IGDI; it tells us what development should be for most children over time. The aim line serves as a forecast or prediction of the rate of growth in a developmental area given optimal learning conditions.

A trend line is the visual description of the actual rate of progress of an individual child; it tells us what the assumed rate of development is for an individual child. The trend line summarizes existing data. The trend lines generated in our reports are based on the scores that you enter for an individual child.

How do I use the Get it Got it Go! reports?

Once data is entered into the system, you can create a report for an individual child. The report includes: (a) both a table and a graph of IGDI scores for the selected child, (b) a trend line, and (c) an aim line. The trend line (in green) and aim line (in gold) offer a visual comparison between the child's actual rate of progress (the trend line) with a desired rate of progress (the aim line).

With this graph, you can compare your child's progress (the trend line) to the desired rate (the aim line). Over time, determine if your child is following the desired rate, catching up to the desired rate, or failing to make progress. If the trend line falls below the aim line, or appears to be at a lower developmental rate than you might expect, some change in intervention might be needed.

Are there alternatives to using the aim line as the desired rate of growth for my students?

The aim line generated in our reports is based on a study group of English-speaking preschool children without identified disabilities. While this standard should be useful for most children, there may be circumstances where another standard is needed. Because it is difficult to create a standard that would match the unique needs of the various groups of children educators work with, we recommend that you do one of two things:

1. Create an individualized long term goal for a child that you are monitoring, based on your knowledge of the child's skills and unique learning needs, or
2. Develop a local standard appropriate for the population of children that you work with.

How do I create and use a local standard?

1. Define what your “standard” will be – what group of children do you want to consider as your norm?
2. Select a group of same-age peers, or other suitable comparison group, from your local setting (e.g., classroom, school, or district). A group of 30 to 50 children would be helpful.
3. Administer IGDIs to all the children in your group. Enter these data into Get it Got it Go!
4. Use the group's rate of growth, or group trend line , to establish a desired growth rate or long term goal for the child(ren) that you are monitoring. When the group report feature is added to the Website, each group report will include an automatically generated aim line and group trend line.
5. When viewing student progress using our reports, create a report for the individual student you are monitoring (report A), as well as a report for the local comparison group (report B). Disregard the automatically generated aim line in report A, and use the group trend line from report B in its place.
6. Compare the trend line of the individual child to this group trend line. Over time, you can determine if individual children are following the group trend line, catching up to the group trend line, or failing to make progress. You would base your intervention decisions on those questions/answers.

Final notes on interpreting reports:

Keep in mind that without at least three data points per child, a graphical report is not meaningful.

• Please note that IGDIs have screening and monitoring purposes - NOT diagnostic ones. We think these data are useful for identifying children with developmental delays and evaluating effects of intervention.

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