Checklist that [1] I can report on each item & [2] I can set the default value of the question?

So the challenge is to come up with a checklist that has about 80 items

The list contains activities that new hires are expected to complete

 The items are grouped as Day 1, Week 1, Month 1 and so on

The idea is as they complete activities they go back to the checklist module and record what items they have completed with date they have completed

Various checklist samples exist on this site (hooray) BUT:

[1] I need to be able to run a report showing the status of each list and each item in the lists

How can I do that?

I thought perhaps I could create the list using assessment questions?