Below is a list of issues with the new PM interface that we've identified and documented for the engineers.
- Progress monitoring goal calculation error and correction - Updated 1/22
- Editing PM setup - Updated 1/6
- Deselecting a week on the district PM calendar doesn't exclude week from PM - fixed!
- Duplicate PM form links appear for each week - Updated 1/6
- Monitoring completed but score is missing - Updated 12/16
- Overdue label when student has been monitored in the current week
- Recent trends indicators incorrect on PM list, correct on PM Report
- PM list filters not functioning properly
- No link to the PM assessment under the student's login
- New and/or Edit Setup buttons not working
- Monitoring schedule page just spins when I try to create a new PM plan - Fixed 12/16
Q: Our district received an email regarding an error with progress monitoring goals in FastBridge, what is this about and what do we need to do?
A: Updated message from FastBridge (1/20/22): Action may be needed by district!
View full email message re: goal calculation issue & next steps
Summary of District Action Steps:
- Review district goal issue reports from FastBridge before January 31st.
The reports are visible to FAST District Managers on the District Manager home page.
- There are two reports :
- "IE Fixes" - PM plans that will be automatically corrected by FastBridge on February 4th. No action is required, if you agree with the changes. You can opt out, if you don't agree with the changes.
- "Local Action Needed" - PM plans that the district/school needs to review and make any necessary changes to the start or goal directly in the PM plans in FastBridge.
- See Setting Quality Goals to help evaluate the goals set currently. If you need assistance reviewing any of the goal settings for potential changes, please submit a support request.
Background of issue:
Between August 1 and November 5, 2021, the FastBridge system miscalculated Academic Progress Monitoring goals by applying a fixed plan end date 52 weeks in the future, regardless of the end date selected in the interface. The calculation logic has been fixed, but goals calculated using the default or custom ROI during that time period may need to be recalculated.
Iowa FAQs about the PM goal errors
Should we be using the automatic goal setting or setting our own goals?
We encourage users to set PM goals thoughtfully and based on the desired outcomes for students. The automatic goal setting process is vulnerable to setting a bad goal if the start score is zero. Also, for students who are performing below benchmark, the automatic goal set is not a gap-closing goal. We encourage setting the start score to the first PM result if it is now zero, and setting the goal to the end of year benchmark (or higher) so that the PM graph represents progress toward being above benchmark. See: Iowa: Is the Intervention Working? Setting Quality Goals and Using PM Data for Decision-Making
I used the goal FAST set for an IEP. What should I do?
It is possible to alter an IEP goal via an amendment if all parties are in agreement. You may wish to communicate to the parent that due to an error, the wrong goal was used in the IEP, and if they are amenable to it, you want to adjust it to correct the error. If they are agreeable, no formal face-to-face meeting is required.
Goals set automatically by the FAST PM setup may not represent the best goals for an IEP anyway. The team needs to make informed decisions about IEP goals based on the student, their needs, and the measure being used. Automated goal setup may result in faulty goals that under or overstate the desired outcomes for the student.
Q: Editing PM setup - doesn't save or doesn't change the plan
A. Not all editing functions are working. FastBridge is investigating but at the current time, we've identified that the following functions are not editable - they will either look like they save and not actually update the plan or they will not save at all
- goal line (type) selection (visible after next data point collected)
- monitoring user
- PM schedule end date. If a PM plan has ended prematurely due to the end date, it appears you can edit the end date to make it active again but the system doesn't show the link for the current week's form, after it's edited. We believe you can set the end date to June 1, and the current week's form link will be present. Editing may result in duplicate form links for each week, though that is not confirmed.
The workaround is to release the student from the PM plan and recreate it. If data has been collected in the existing PM plan, you can use the current week as the start date on the new PM plan but select the next consecutive form number to start the new plan where the previous plan left off (that field is on the Monitoring Schedule setup page). This will allow you to view the previously collected data on the PM report of the new plan.
Update 12/10 - the issue with editing several data elements appears to be resolved and have been moved to the list of functions believed to be working.
Note: Editing functions that we believe are working:
- frequency
- start date
- assessment
- assessment level
- PM start score
- PM goal value
- PM time
- Intervention plan name
- Intervention plan frequency
- Intervention plan user
- Adding intervention plan after PM plan is created (visible after next data point collected)
PM plan showing inactive because it was prematurely end dated?
UPDATE #4 - If a PM plan has ended prematurely due to the end date, it appears you can edit the end date to make it active again but the system doesn't show the link for the current week's form, after it's edited. We believe you can set the end date to June 1, and the current week's form link will be present. However, editing may result in duplicate form links each week (unconfirmed).
If your district is using incremental PM plans, please see Iowa: Is the Intervention Working? Setting Quality Goals and Using PM Data for Decision-Making. Best practice is setting up PM to the end of the year and then releasing the student from PM, if a change needed. If you utilize the Panorama Student Success system for entering interventions for all students, not just those that are required to be entered into Student Success for ELI or Healthy Indicator reporting, you can evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions in increments using the Intervention graph without negatively impacting the progress monitoring data views. https://iowa-mtss.helpscoutdocs.com/article/245-evaluating-the-effectiveness-of-interventions
Q: I deselected a week on the district PM calendar (see article) to make it inactive for PM and it didn't work. The week and form are available in the student PM plans.
A: This issue appears to be resolved.
Q: Two PM form links per week suddenly appearing. Why? And how do we get rid of the duplicate?
A: Updated 1/6 - We are receiving new reports of this occurring. FastBridge is investigating.
This is generally the result of a previous issue with editing the end date on a PM plan to extend it, which shouldn't happen moving forward but there may be remaining instances from when it was an issue. If there are duplicate form links and you've confirmed that the plan's frequency is once weekly, the only option is to remove the additional weekly form link is to release the student from the plan and create a new one, however, a teacher can ignore the extra probe links (it will not impact the data) until a change to the monitoring plan is needed. This will stimulate the Overdue label to be stuck.
If you choose to recreate the PM plan, we suggest setting the start date as the current week and selecting the next consecutive start form number to pick up where the previous PM plan left off. It's a drop down field titled Starting Form on the Monitoring Schedule setup page. This will allow the new plan to continue where the previous ended and the previous data to smoothly integrate on the PM Report.
Q: Help! We've progress monitored the student but the score isn't showing up.
A: Update 12/16/2021 - we are receiving reports that indicate this issue may not be resolved, as previously reported. FastBridge is investigating.
When the assessment is completed, the score is captured, and it is visible on the PM Report but is not displayed under Monitoring Scores on the PM list. This is inconvenient but it's important to note that the PM score is safe!!! We ask that you confirm the score is visible on the PM Report. If it is, the data is safe and there is no need to administer the progress monitoring again, despite the continued presence of the Start Form link. Repeated administrations will only result in multiple data points on the PM report/graph.
This bug also prevents the deleting of any scores that aren't showing up under Monitoring Scores, as the delete function is only available there. If you have entered scores (or monitored multiple times) before you discovered this issue, please ignore the additional data on the PM Report until the issue is resolved.
How to Access the PM Report:
- Click the checkbox to the left of the student’s name
- Select PM Report on the blue action menu at the top
Q: The PM monitoring date says 'overdue' but I've monitored the student this week!
A: This is usually caused by a week of monitoring missed earlier in the year but it may be caused by the issue described above related to the score not displaying under Monitoring Scores.
The engineers are currently working on a function that will allow missed PM weeks to be marked as skipped so they won't trigger the overdue label. We don't have a specific eta for when that will be in place, the best we can say is it will likely several weeks. If the overdue label is caused by the issue with the score display, that will be resolved when the score display issue is fixed.
Q: The recent trends indicators are incorrect compared to the student's actual progress in scores.
A: This has been reported. The indicators on the PM Report are correct but the displayed indicators under Recent Trends on the PM list don't correlate.
Most commonly, all five indicators will indicate a downward trend when, in reality, the students scores are consistently increasing and above the goal line (see screenshots of example below). You can hover over the trend indicators to see the score for each (and those do appear to be correct) but we recommend ignoring the trend indicators, if they appear inconsistent. Use the student's PM report instead, as those indicators are correct.
Example of incorrect recent trends on PM list:
PM Report displaying correct indicators:
Q: PM filters not working properly. Students are missing from the list when the filters are applied but are on the list before it's filtered.
A: You may see this if you've edited a student's PM plan - most edits do not save properly (see above) so the filters will not apply correctly to the plan after editing. We suspect there may be another issue with the filters but have been unable to pinpoint the cause.
Q: No link to the PM assessment when logged in with student login.
A: We've seen a bug with CBMmath CAP and Automaticity that FastBridge is investigating. Other assessments may be impacted; however, it's very rare and the problem is usually caused by an issue with the PM plan or the student access setup.
- See: Setting Up Student Login Access to confirm that the setup is correct.
- Confirm that the PM plan is set up correctly, the student doesn't have a score for the current week, and that the Start Form link is visible for the current week on the PM list (teacher or specialist).
- If everything is set up correctly, the workaround is to monitor the student under the Proctor view with a staff login.
Q: Nothing happens when I click the New and/or Edit Setup button on the PM page
A: FastBridge is investigating but there is no known workaround for this issue. Please work with a colleague to complete any PM creation or editing tasks until it's resolved.
Q: Monitoring schedule page just spins when I try to create a new PM plan.
A: Update 12/16 - FastBridge has indicated the issue is now resolved for ALL browsers.
Users report spinning with a loading message under the Students header on the Monitoring Schedule page during PM setup. This may be caused by the district's ad-blocker program.
1. Confirm that all required fields have been completed on the Monitoring Schedule page
2. Contact your IT department to exclude the following from any ad-blockers, pop-up blockers, or district filters:
- portal.ed.iowa.gov
- fastbridge.org