Data Collection

Well, I am back to data collection again!  It seems that I am just never satisfied.  Last school year I tried to go paperless.  It worked to some extent, but I wasn't super happy.  It was challenging to compile all of my various data sets in different virtual arenas.  

For the last term of the 2012/2013 school year, I also took on the role of Special Needs Coordinator full time.  In that role, I realized that we had no data collection tool for our people to use.  In the current system, I am responsible to writing each student's IILP(International Individual Learning Plan), similar to an IEP.  That being said, there was no data collected that wasn't subjective in nature.  Each Learning Facilitator (teaching assistant) that worked with individual kids was giving me updates, but there was nothing concrete to examine.  It was just their interpretation of the situation.  I really need to work on that for this coming school year!

Personally, I used BehaviorTracker Pro, which I wrote about in a previous blog post.  I really like the app, and I am definitely partial to them after the fabulous customer service I received last fall. However, it is one of those "in the know" apps. You need to completely understand the language of, at the very least FBAs, but also Applied Behavioral Analysis.  It's not an intuitive app by any means.  It would be next to impossible to get an non-trained Learning Facilitator to use without skewing my results.  

I have been looking into other options out there for data collection. I could just build spreadsheets for every child, but it would still have some limits.  I am looking for something that everyone has access to, but can't change info by accident.  I am trying to find an app that is more intuitive than a spreadsheet and BTP. One complaint I have about BTP is that I have to remember what skill I am tracking for each child, each time I enter the app.  It doesn't automatically keep each behavior selected for the kids.  My other complaint about BTP is that I can't take data on multiple kids at one time.

Last night I came across IEPPal.  It looks kind of like what I'm looking for.  It seems to be more intuitive, and you can take data on multiple kids at a time.  I can upload pictures for each of the kids and multiple people can enter data, which is good. It isn't super expensive, but I am not sure it would be worth the investment.  Although I really need to update the way we collect data on Sped kiddos in my school.  Last year we began the year with 10 Sped kiddos across 11 age groups.  This year we will begin with 25 across 12 age groups. Its a WHOLE lot more to keep up with.  

Has anyone out there used IEPPal?  Can anyone give me thoughts on it? (I'm afraid that the company website might be a little bit biased.)

Data Collection...continued

Ok, so I got a bit sidetracked by my well-deserved and much needed vacation.  But I'm back now, still working, even though I have offically resigned my position.  A Special Ed teacher's job is NEVER finished! 

I have spent the last few hours trying to clean off my laptop so I can return it to the MOST awesome media tech person I have ever worked with! In the process of doing that, I came across the pictures I "lost" in my pictures folder.  Now that I have found them, I can continue my post on data. 

The Process...

of collecting data is always easier when you have the right tools.  One of my favorites...

my colored pens!  Colored pens save my eyes when it comes time to write progress reports and new IEPs.
I end up with tons in my car by the end of the week. 


This is one of my data collection sheets I keep at my Morning Meeting table.  One of my kids got carried away with the BENQ & spilled my coffee all over the table. 
 This is the type of clipboard I use.  Mine has stuff taped all over it, but I couldn't find it.  It's packed up somewhere!

This is a file folder task that is in a center basket for 3 of my kids. Some times, I have to add keys to the bottom of my data sheets, but most of them are there in the key.  I tape a lot of stuff to the back of my tasks (or to the bottom of work baskets).

This is an old data sheet that I used for a while to document the behavior of one of my kids, but it only had one behavior to track and I was constantly flipping back & forth to the pages..

so I created this one instead.

This one tracks multiple behaviors in the same 15 min increments and I can keep 2 days worth of data on the same page.

This is a data sheet that I got from someone else.  I was using it to try and determine an antecedent for behavior.  It certainly helped me narrow it down to 2 antecedents.  Too bad my kid is moving on, but so is his data, so hopefully his teacher next year will be able to tease it out even further.  I kept these in a folder near the timeout area, because it was the most convienent.  I have a folder for each of my kids that I keep in a standing file on a shelf with at least 3 pens (just in case one runs out).  The colored pens especially helped on these pages, because I would write in a different color for each day.  It helped with teasing out antecedents.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Data Collection


One of the things that no one every told me how to do when I began teaching Special Education upteen-thousand years ago was how to collect data.  Don't get me wrong, my undergrad classes emphasized the importance of data collection.  Those classes just never taught me HOW to collect data.  Through the years, I have realized that I am not the only one out there struggling.  Some of my district peers don't do it at all.  I don't think it is because they don't care, I think it is that they just don't know how to get started.

Since my first day in the classroom I have collected data, but it has been very haphazard.  For years, I knew that if someone had to come in and pick up where I left off, they would wonder what all those scraps of paper were on my desk!  Writing progress reports or report cards was horribly painful.  My husband always hated the week before report cards went out, because our dining room (not just the table, but the floor as well) would be COVERED with paper.  I would be so frustrated & cranky that its a wonder he never ran out of the room screaming!

By a stroke of luck 3 years ago, I finally figured out the data collection mystery.  It was a huge amount of trial and error those first few weeks in my new classroom.  I don't have a clue why after all these years, it finally clicked, but it did.

Here's what I finally figured out:
    1.  Just do it!  (make the time & just write it down)
    2.  Not everything has to look the same
    3.  Make sure it is idiot proof (no offense to subs, but a sub in a special ed class is already shell-
         shocked, so don't over do it with a complicated process)
    4.  Make it as convenient as possible (make sure you have a place to write it down with as much pre-
         filled in as possible & something to write with--don't laugh, you'd be surprised!)

Once I figured that out, it was easier to actually collect the data in a way that would work for me.

How?...
I think this was the most difficult thing for me to overcome.  I always thought that when it came to data collection that 1, single format would do.  Not sure why, but for years it was what I tried to do.  I only collected data on a single skill.  If I had a kid whose IEP dictated that they work on letter identification, I was a champ at collecting that data...on sticky notes...or...note cards...that would then get lost in the pile that would always over-take my desk.

But when I had behavior goals to address on an IEP...DOCUMENT?  Seriously???  How in the world do you do that?  I had no clue.  It was obvious that the kid was making progress on the goal, but if I had ever been called out on my documentation, I would have been hard pressed to provide ANYTHING!  I could provide behavior contracts for some kids, but only a few.

Moving to an Autistic class forced me to address my inability to handle these situations.  Let's face it, 90% of an autistic class is behavioral.  I was really going to have to step up my game.  Thank goodness for the internet.  I found a few data sheets that I used for a while.

Just a little while was all I could manage, because it still wasn't working for me.  How was I going to do this?  I had 2 kids in my room that first year whose parents scared me.  (You know what I mean)  I wanted to be on point if I was ever asked to provide my documentation.  How was I going to do that?  I decided to do what I do with my kids.  I worked backward.  What was I trying to get out of my data collection?  I wanted to be able to support my IEP goals.  Once I figured that out, it was a little easier for me.

Once I figured out what I wanted to obtain, it was only a matter of figuring out how to go about collecting the data.

Not everything has to look the same...
I was trying to fit everyone into the same data collection box.  I don't do that with my kids.  They all have different schedules and work stations.  Why do they all have to have the same data collection process?  They don't.  It was amazing how freeing that thought was!  Can't believe it took me so long to come to that conclusion!

The data sheets I found online were great for some skills, but not for others.  So I began to play with my own.  I decided what worked best from each of the ones I had been using.

First & foremost, time!  I needed to be able to document on the fly, because coming back to something in my class is a luxury I just couldn't afford.  I also needed to be able to have it readily accessible, because if it wasn't, I wasn't going to get it down.  (see aforementioned statement)

Second, simplicity, anyone needed to be able to do it:  Me, my TA, a sub, my teammate, the Art teacher.  I had to make it as simple as possible, so I didn't have to stop and explain or have to go without.

The one thing that is on each of my data sheets, regardless of what it looks like, is a key.  That way, I don't spend time explaining everything when there isn't time.

Convenience...
Everywhere in my room, you will find pens!  They are velcroed to the underside of bookshelves (so they don't end up in someone's mouth).  They are in containers around the room, I always have at least 2 stuffed in my back pockets, they are everywhere.  I decided a long time ago that I liked colored pens.  It makes it easier for me to compile data at the end of the quarter/skill/IEP process when they are colored.  Looking at only black ink can make my eyes hurt & then I loose track of where I was.  Colored ink makes compilation much faster.

Placement of the data sheets is important too.  For years I always tried to keep everything all together in a notebook, a rolodex, a notecard box, a single clipboard and many other places.  That was INSANE!  It was never where I needed it to be, when I needed it to be.  Now, I have data sheets taped to the backs of file folders, the bottoms of tasks and the bookshelf.  I have multiple clipboards now.  My ABC documentation is next to my timeout area, because I usually have to sit with someone to keep them in timeout.  My group documentation is in the large group area, teacher time data is taped to the folder that each student's work is organized in for 1:1 time.

Life is so much easier now and report cards are less nerve racking!  In hindsight, this seems so easy, but it was the most difficult thing I have ever had to learn in Special Ed.!  I feel great about my data collection now.  I am no longer scared to send report cards/progress reports home to "those" parents anymore.  I have a TON of documentation to support my comments now!

Lesson learned!  (I will post some examples of my data sheets and "hiding" places in my next post)