Such monitoring provides help when needed, and usually results in improved skills and better products. Assessing a student's information literacy process automatically assesses the instructional program. The next mid-point check would reveal how effective changes were, if at all, and for whom. The benefit of consistent assessment of process within a project helps a student see growth of specific skills within unique structures as they look back on past performances. Performance is seen in positive terms, specific attributes are seen in context, with opportunity to improve still more as the project is resumed.
Incentive is a natural result.
Progress is measured differently, relating a student s work to how far that student still has to go to reach an educational goal. This has a negative connotation and is usually more general. Both growth and progress are important. Too much assessment can be distracting and counter-productive. Curiosity and quality may suffer if students research to a dominating assessment.