📊 Progress Reports

VIDEO: Progress Report Admin Page Overview

VIDEO: Personal Growth Skills Overview

1. What Are Progress Reports?

• Progress Reports allow schools to summarize each child’s academic progress and personal growth skills over a chosen period of time (semester, quarter, year, etc.). 
• Reports can include academic summaries, attendance records, and teacher reflections (custom notes), all shared with families via downloadable PDF.
• Designed to support Montessori-style narrative reporting, with flexibility to meet each school’s needs and preferences.
• This feature is actively being developed. This article explains where we are today and what’s coming in future releases. The end goal is to provide a robust, customizable report that’s easy to share and helps parents/guardians gain meaningful insight into their child’s development in the classroom.

2. What’s Included in the First Release (now available)

• Academic Summary: Detailed progress by curriculum area (e.g., Language Arts, Mathematics, Practical Life, Sensorial, etc.).
• General Reflection: Add an overall narrative summarizing the child’s development for the term.
• Personal Growth Skills: Assess observable habits such as attention, self-regulation, social skills, and independence (customizable to fit your school’s needs).
• Attendance Summary: Automatically include attendance data recorded in Montessori Compass.
• PDF Export: Generate and share polished, family-ready reports for each student.

3. Introducing Personal Growth Skills (now available)

Personal Growth Skills are a new framework for documenting developmental growth that extends beyond academic lessons.

• These categories capture observable behaviors, learning dispositions, and social-emotional growth.
• The default content is based on the Dimensions of Observable Growth (DOG). You may use this content as-is, customize it, or replace it entirely with your own framework. For more info on DOG, please scroll to the bottom of this page. 
• The DOG content includes five key areas of growth: Attention & Concentration, Purpose & Will, Self-Mastery, Social Integration, and Spiritual Integration.
• The Personal Growth feature follows the same structural hierarchy as Trackers:
  • Category: e.g., Attention, Concentration, & Work
  • Sub-Category: e.g., Alertness, Curiosity
  • Skill: specific behaviors teachers observe and assess.
• While Trackers are typically used for daily activities (e.g., naps, meals, toilet training) and shared via the Activity Report, Personal Growth Skills are exclusively designed for use in Progress Reports.

4. How to Access and Use Progress Reports (now available)

Follow these steps to create and share progress reports:

1. Select the desired Classroom, then click Reports from the side navigation. From the reports dropdown, select Progress Reports.
2. Click the New Report button. 
3. Select a date range for your reporting period.
4. Opt in or out of the different sections of the progress report, including specific curriculum categories. 
5. Add Reflections (custom notes) for each child, as needed. It is strongly recommended that you compose the reflections in a separate document, outside of Montessori Compass. When ready, simply copy/paste into the Reflections editor.
6. Go to the Journal and update the Personal Growth Skills you wish to include in the Progress Report. (Only the highest assessment level per skill will display.)
7. Preview each child’s report to review the layout and content.
8. When ready to share, click the box next to the child's name (you can multi-select students) and click the Create PDF button. This will convert the progress report information to PDF format. *Please note this will take a few moments per PDF. Therefore, if you are creating PDFs for the entire classroom, it could take a few minutes. Refresh the browser to see the latest status. When the download link is displayed, the PDF is ready to be downloaded to your device. You can then print or send to parents via MC messaging/email.

5. What’s Coming Next

Here’s a preview of upcoming enhancements:

• Download multiple PDF reports in batch.
• Add your school logo to the Progress Report header.
• Include student work sample photos in the Academic Summary.
• Compare current and past reports to show progression.
• Option to align and display progress in the context of State or National Standards.
• Delivery to parents via Classroom Share mobile app. 

6. FAQ

Can parents/guardians view progress reports online?
Not yet — PDF downloads are available now. Mobile app access for parents/guardians will be added soon. 

Can I edit the Personal Growth Skills list?
Yes. Admins can customize categories, sub-categories, and skills to match your school’s unique developmental framework. If you don't wish to use the DOG content, it can be archived. 

What lesson data displays on Progress Reports?
Only data recorded during the selected date range will be displayed. In the Academic Summary, only the highest assessment for each lesson will appear.
Example: If a child worked with the Pink Tower multiple times during the reporting period, the Progress Report will show the Pink Tower once — at the highest assessment level recorded. Elements will also be displayed, providing additional insights to parents.

What personal growth data displays on Progress Reports?
Personal Growth Skills include their own built-in assessment levels within the skill text itself. This structure saves time and provides clear context for parents/guardians about what each level means.

Example – Concentration:
1️⃣ Passes from one activity to another without concentration.
2️⃣ Sometimes concentrates but is easily distracted.
3️⃣ Persists in tasks despite potential distractions. Returns to work after interruptions.
4️⃣ Consistently achieves deep concentration. Returns to work after interruptions. Often so engrossed in work that scheduled ends of work periods are an inconvenience.

Teachers select the level that best reflects the child’s current development, and the full statement appears on the Progress Report — providing clear, contextual insight for parents/guardians.

Information about the Dimensions of Observable Growth (DOG)

In addition to showing your child’s progress with Montessori lessons (such as Pink Tower, Sandpaper Letters, and Spindle Boxes), the Montessori Compass progress report also includes a Personal Growth section. This section is based on a framework called the Dimensions of Observable Growth (DOG), which helps teachers share how your child is developing in ways that go beyond academic skills.

Montessori education emphasizes the whole child. Personal Growth highlights the foundational qualities that support all learning — such as independence, concentration, emotional regulation, social awareness, problem-solving, and the joy of purposeful work. These are the traits Maria Montessori described when she observed that:
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’” — Maria Montessori
This quote reflects the independence, focus, and internal motivation that the DOG aims to capture.

The following can be found on the DOG's website:

"If there is one source of inspiration for The DOG, it is the work of Dr. Maria Montessori. We find her work inspiring and insightful, as well as timely and timeless: she has a rare combination of eloquence, vision for holistic human development, understanding of scientific observation, and pedagogical wisdom. Most, if not all, of the content and structure for The Big DOG is based on Montessori’s work.

Furthermore, we can, as she says, create tools--both concrete and abstract--that empower us to “see” things that we would not see otherwise. Not only do we have selective perception, we have perception that can be trained and prepared for different purposes and ends. The hunter, the farmer, and the painter may look out onto the same field, but they do not see the same things--their experiences and observations are incredibly varied. What Montessori left behind, and what we intend to build upon, is a way for us to look out onto a “field” of, for example, children within a school, and to see much more than the lens of standardized tests can provide. Montessori has helped us decide what more we are looking for."

What the Personal Growth section shows

Your child’s teacher selects a developmental level for several broad areas such as:

• Independence & Self-Management

• Concentration & Work Habits

• Social & Emotional Development

• Purpose, Will, and Follow-Through

• Physical Coordination & Grace of Movement

• Engagement and Joy in Work

These reflect observable behaviors teachers see in the classroom — for example, how your child chooses work, collaborates with others, returns to tasks after interruptions, demonstrates patience, or handles challenges.

How to interpret the developmental levels

The levels (such as Beginning, Emerging, Developed, or Skillful) are not grades. Children move through these stages at their own pace. The purpose is to help families understand how their child is growing as a thinker, worker, friend, and community member.

How this fits into the full progress report

• Montessori Scope & Sequence shows your child’s progress with specific lessons and materials.

• Personal Growth (DOG) shows how your child approaches learning, work, responsibility, and relationships.

Together, these two perspectives give you a more complete picture of your child’s development — both academically and as a developing human being within the Montessori community.