Collecting Data Tips and Tricks!

I have seen a lot of discussion lately in Facebook groups about data collection.  I decided to do a little blog post with some tips and ideas that have worked well for me.

I often use data sheets to collect data.  I recently blogged and shared a FREEBIE with a form I use to collect data during group speech sessions.  Click HERE to check it out.

I have also shared in the past my data binder and form that I use for each student in a binder.  At the end of the day, after collecting data using my group form, I track each students' progress on their own individual data form.  This way, I can maintain how that student is performing towards his or her own personal goals.  Click HERE to learn more about this binder and form.

There has been chatter about collecting data with prompts/cueing.  This is a method that has worked well for me.  I take whatever form I am using and I use + and - to indicate if the student responded accurately during that task at hand.  If I mark an - I then circle it to indicate how many prompts it took until they were able to achieve the skill.

This way, I can easily monitor if there is a pattern or if a student is requiring less and less prompting as the session goes on.  I may also jot down underneath it what types of prompts I used (choices, repetition, phonemic cues, etc.).  I tend to use a hierarchy of cueing but it also depends on the task and that individual child.  I may learn over time that Johnny requires choices during auditory comprehension tasks to help him with retrieval.  I may then create a visual aid or graphic organizer for a future lesson to eliminate that need for choices.

What about working on more than one goal at a time?

I just make extra columns!  Now, this Post-It method is great if you need a quick piece of paper to jot down data.  Note above that I have my - and + and the circles to indicate the amount of prompting?  Student "C" needed 2 prompts in order to respond accurately during a vocabulary task.

Another question I get often, "Do your students know you are collecting data?" or "How do you not let the data collection take over the session?"  I will be honest, I may not collect data the whole time.  While I am introducing a skill or reviewing, I may leave my pencil and paper down.  However, if I am using a task card activity (and if you notice in my TpT store I have TONS because I love using them to collect data and students love them too), it is a great way to drill and take data.  I may hide my Post-It or data sheet  in a pile of worksheets or behind a clip board or planner.  I like to tell my students that I am keeping score but they aren't allowed to see the score.  I will tell them the score at the end (I may or may not tell them the actual scores achieved!).  I have tons of task card games that have point values on each card.  Instead of letting the students hold onto their cards, I tell them that I will track their points so they don't fiddle with their cards and get distracted.  This way, they think I'm keeping score, but in reality, I am tracking data (and maybe marking their scores too).

How do you collect data?  How do you mark prompts?  Do you tell your students that you are collecting data?