Progressive: 1 (adjective) continuing to change in stages.  The banker’s progressive disease continued to worsen. 2 (adjective) using or interested in new or modern ideas.  The politician’s progressive ideas excited voters.

​Regress: (verb) to go backward, to return to an earlier and usually less-developed condition. He was starting to do better with turning work in on time, but then he regressed and had a lot of missing assignments.

​Graduate: (verb) to earn a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university; to move from one level to a higher level.  Most seniors choose which college they want to attend before they graduate.

Gradual: (adjective) changing or proceeding in small amounts; happening slowly over a period of time.  I prefer a gradual increase in homework over a sudden increase.

Degrade: 1 (verb) to treat someone poorly, without respect.  It was wrong for the teacher to degrade the student. 2 (verb) to make the quality of something worse.  Building an oil refinery might degrade the air quality.