Data Collection Basics for Teachers

Academic and Behavioral Data Provide Invaluable Information

Sep 25, 2009

Efficiency and accuracy in data collection will provide teachers, parents and other professionals the most value from the information.

There are several instances when a teacher will be required to keep data on a specific child in the classroom. This data collection will increase the amount of paperwork that a teacher must keep track of, but is none the less important. Understanding some simple tricks to help minimize the time it takes to collect and organize data will help teachers be more efficient and more accurate.

Behavioral Data Collection

Teachers might need to keep data on a child’s behavior if the child is receiving services for special education, if the child is repetitively misbehaving or if the teacher suspects that the child may need to be referred for special services relating to the behavior or academic progress. Data that should be collected includes information on what behavior was exhibited, what transpired directly prior to the behavior and the consequence the child received for the behavior.

The easiest way to collect behavioral data is to incorporate the data collection into the existing behavior plan. Behavior plans that mark student behaviors or the number of required warnings per child are the simplest to use as they will provide the teacher with a quick way to see how many times the student acted up. A clipboard or notebook on the desk can provide a quick means for the teacher to jot down notes about each incident.

Academic Data Collection

Teachers might need to keep data on specific aspects of a child’s learning based on an individual education plan (IEP), or if the teacher suspects that the child may need to be referred for specialized instruction. If an IEP is already in place for the child, the special education teacher will have specific goals and objectives that she will need to collect data on, whereas if the child is suspected to need specialized attention, the teacher will need to keep specific data on the various difficulties that the child demonstrates in class.

Collecting academic data can be as simple as grading assignments, but many times anecdotal data is as important if not more important than information provided on assignments. The easiest way to keep this data is to keep a clipboard at all times. This clipboard can have post-it notes or a sheet of paper on which the teacher can take notes about each child.

Each child in class should have a tab in a notebook in which the teacher can collect a variety of data points for use during meetings with the parents and other teachers and professionals. Creating a spread sheet for specific goals and objectives will help organize data that teachers collect and ensure that the teacher can easily see which goals and objectives do not have enough data. When writing lesson plans, this spreadsheet will help teachers focus instruction on the areas the student needs additional work.

Data collection is going to require extra paper work, but with these simple organization methods, the teacher will be able to minimize the time she spends on this extra work. Data collection provides teachers, parents and other professionals with valuable information about a child’s education and efforts should be made to keep it simple and accurate.

The copyright of the article Data Collection Basics for Teachers in Classroom Organization is owned by Jennifer Wagaman. Permission to republish Data Collection Basics for Teachers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.