The Inventory
Understand learning across dimensions and levels.
A student may demonstrate advanced understanding in one area while needing substantial support in another. The True Progress Inventory examines twelve dimensions of ELA or math learning across levels, helping specialists and teachers understand patterns of strengths and needs that require a more extensive assessment.
The Inventory contributes detailed academic evidence to Visibility, the first driver of the Student Success System. Educators bring the profile together with classroom work, the student's experience, and knowledge of previous support to develop a fuller understanding and plan a response.
SUBJECTS
ELA and math, assessed separately
COVERAGE
Twelve dimensions in each subject
FORMAT
Adaptive assessment across learning levels; can span several sessions
See an Inventory profile in use
This overview follows a math specialist investigating a student's classroom difficulties and declining Screener results. The profile shows stronger learning in some dimensions and earlier learning in others. It illustrates how a specialist can use those patterns to investigate needs and plan support alongside the student's classroom instruction.
Twelve dimensions within each subject
The Inventory adapts within individual dimensions to examine learning across levels. This allows educators to consider each area in its own right and then look at the pattern across the subject.
Math
- Concept of Number
- Measurement
- Geometry
- Data
- Graphs
- Algebra
- Place Value
- Fluency
- Applications
- Operations
- Mathematical Language
- Patterns
ELA
- Decoding Nonsense Words
- Decoding Real Words
- Grammar
- Listening Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension Informational (Inferential)
- Reading Comprehension Literature (Inferential)
- Reading Comprehension (Surface)
- Segmenting Syllables
- Sight Words Recognition
- Spelling
- Vocabulary
- Writing
Read the pattern and examine the evidence
An Inventory profile helps educators investigate where learning is well established and where further attention is needed. Understanding the report includes distinguishing the student's actual answers from the assessment's projections.
| What the profile shows | How educators use it |
|---|---|
| Learning across dimensions and levels | Recognize strengths and difficulties that may be less apparent in an overall result or an assessment at one level. |
| Questions answered correctly or incorrectly | Examine the student's demonstrated responses to the assessed material. |
| Projected responses to questions not presented | See the assessment's estimates based on responses within the dimension, while distinguishing them from questions the student actually answered. |
| Differences among dimensions | Develop questions for further investigation and identify priorities for teaching, support, or greater challenge. |
In the report, solid green and red markers represent actual correct and incorrect responses. Lighter markers represent projected responses to questions the student did not see. Specialists interpret these patterns alongside other evidence; the profile describes academic learning but does not, by itself, establish why a difficulty occurs.
The profile moves with the student
The Inventory's value develops through the work educators do with its findings. A shared academic profile can support planning and help carry understanding from one teacher, team, or school year to the next.
Plan support and challenge
Specialists and teachers identify priorities, consider how demonstrated strengths could support learning, and plan appropriate teaching and challenge. They return to classroom work, the student's experience, and evidence of progress to review whether the response is helping.
Build shared understanding
The profile gives educators and families specific findings to discuss. They can consider strengths and difficulties together, relate the findings to what they have observed, and agree on questions or next steps.
Maintain continuity
Educators can share the findings alongside what they have learned about effective support. That knowledge can inform a new teacher's planning, the transition to another grade, or the move from admissions into enrollment.
When a more extensive profile is useful
Choosing the depth of assessment
Most students need only periodic screening. A Diagnostic provides detail about skills at a selected level. An Inventory is useful when understanding learning across dimensions and levels would help educators address questions that remain unresolved.
A specialist may already know from the student's history or classroom work that this broader investigation is needed. Students do not have to complete the three assessments in a fixed sequence. How often a school uses the Inventory depends on the students it serves.
Allowing time for the student
The Inventory covers more ground than the Screener or Diagnostic, and the time needed varies. It can be completed across several sessions, with progress saved between sittings.
Short sessions of around 15–20 minutes allow educators to organize the assessment around the student's attention, stamina, and school day. Specialists plan administration and interpretation with the student's needs in mind.
Using the Inventory at your school
We can discuss the learning profiles your educators are working to understand and whether the Inventory would add useful evidence. The conversation can include selecting students for assessment, interpreting patterns across dimensions, and bringing the findings into support planning and communication among educators and families.
Schedule a Conversation