As a special education teacher, we are required to collect data on our students’ IEP goals. There are many factors that attribute to making collecting data hard, especially in a self-contained setting. Each of our students have academic goals, behavior plans/goals, and sometimes functional goals. Here are some tips that I used in my classroom to ensure I was collecting data when I felt like there was no time.
Collaboration
Collaborating with your related service team can be so beneficial for so many reasons! One great way to collect data is to co-implement goals. You can divide and conquer with your related services team so that you can take turns collecting data and comparing it. It’s also helpful to collaborate with your paraprofessionals! I tried to create simple data sheets for centers for my paraprofessionals to fill out. HERE are some examples of what those could look like!
Create Student Binders with Simple Data Sheets
At the beginning of the year, create a binder for each student that has data sheets for their IEP goals. Create the data sheets to be very straightforward and objective. Make sure to write a key at the top as shown in the photo above. This ensures anyone who picks up the data sheet knows exactly how to collect data accurately. I like to color coordinate my student binders with a student color so that I can easily pick up their binder without second thought. I also keep a data sheet on myself to mark off which curriculum I taught with which student. This helps me stay on track to make sure I am hitting all of their goals.
Create a schedule
Create a schedule for yourself so you can focus on one goal a day. For example, Mondays you can collect data on reading goals, Tuesdays math goals, Wednesdays functional goals, etc. You can keep the end of the week for informal assessments or make up work if students were absent. It also may be helpful to take data in a group setting, where all students are on one data sheet. (See example above.) Determine how often you take that data. It could be once a week, 2x a week, 3 times a week. Check out the editable Simple Schedules to get you started!
Use Easy Tools
I love using these mindless clickers in the photo above, especially for behavior data. It makes tracking frequency so easy! The left side is a ring clicker so that it’s always on you to tally. The right side is a clicker you can attach to your lanyard. Each time the student engages in the targeted behavior, you click and forget about it until the next time it happens. At the end of the day, you can check the number and record that on a data sheet. If you don’t have access to these tools, put a bunch of tokens in your right pocket. Any time the behavior occurs, move a token to the left pocket. At the end of the day, count tokens in the left pocket. I also always use tons of clipboards in my classroom so that any adult has access to the data sheets and can travel from place to place with it.
Data is so important to collect to have objective and meaningful information. It’s necessary to write progress reports and IEP goals. I hope these tips and tools help cut out the thought and time to collect data! Check out Managing a Data-Based Classroom to organize all your data!
