Do you feel overwhelmed by data collection? You are not alone! Here are some tips that help me to streamline data collection in my classroom.
1. Start early - Set up your data collection system right away. I like to have all of my students’ goals and data sheets printed before the school year starts. I was on maternity leave at the start of this school year and didn’t have my data system up and running as early as I would have liked. This made it so much more difficult to take data on a regular basis. I definitely learned the hard way and won’t make that mistake again! I now make it a priority to organize my data sheets before the school year starts and keep it updated as my students’ goals change throughout the year.
2. Build data collection into your schedule - I don’t know about you, but my day is busy… crazy busy!! If I don’t have something built into the schedule, it doesn’t happen. Figure out who will be collecting data and how often it will happen. Write it down and stick with the schedule.
3. Consolidate your data sheets - There are a million and one data sheets out there. Some are great and others… not so much. Find out which data sheets best meet your needs and use those sheets as often as possible. My team and I spent some time last year sorting through all of our data sheets and agreed upon a few that worked well for everyone. I revamped all of these sheets to make them simple and easy to use for teachers and paraeducators. You can find them HERE. This leads us to tip number 4.
4. Keep data sheets prepped and ready to use - I keep 10-20 copies of each of my most used data sheets in a separate binder. They are hole punched and ready to be used. No more running to the copy machine or pulling up files on my computer. You can find a free copy of my data binder cover HERE.
5. Train everyone - Data collection is a team effort. Everyone needs to be on the same page and understand when, how, and why, data is being collected.
Do you have any tips or tricks for streamlining data collection? Please share!
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Autumn,
ReplyDeleteas a future intervention specialist these tips on collecting data are very helpful. I have learned that it is important to collect evidence of students' progress. How often do you collect data in your classroom?
The frequency depends on the goal. There are some things that I measure multiple times per day (typically adaptive and behavior goals), and there are other things that I measure every week or two (mostly academic goals). I have also found that sometimes I do not need to measure the entire goal in order to get a snapshot of how the student is doing. For example, if the student has a goal to read 100 sight words, I may only measure the most recently learned words each week, and the entire list once a month. Since some skills can take awhile to assess, you have to find the right balance to make sure that you are maximizing instructional time and not over assessing.
ReplyDeleteThe best systems are built into the task itself. Things like Read Naturally, Rocket Math, or having the kids/para fill out a chart when they do their words/colors/alphabet gives you data every day with what ones they were able to identify. In my classroom we have tables and kids spend 15 min at each table working on a skill (1 hour of reading is 4 tables) so we have data on several skills. Each para also has a Kindle that they fill out a survey on after each rotation. Did the kid have a safe body? Did they make the transition or refuse? Did they do work? Etc. This collected the data easily, the kids don't see good or bad scores (they focus on their rewards, not on the para taking notes). So far, so good!
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