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Autism E-News
Volume 3, Issue 3
January 2007
The Importance of Data Collection
Kelly Koons, M.S. Ed
ODU/TTAC
With
the number of due process hearings on the rise and the continuing push
for schools to show accountability for intervention efforts, data
collection in the classroom has become an increasingly important issue
for teachers and administrators.
Consistent and valid data collection is a significant component
to any good education program. In
addition, it is becoming necessary for teachers to describe the
teaching strategies and the activities they are using to
teach skills, and to describe the data collection strategies they will
use to track the skills. The
primary difficulty is balancing the student's intervention and
interactions with documenting
the intervention efforts and effects.
In addition to logistical difficulties with data collection,
many teachers and administrators have trouble determining what
constitutes documentation and what constitutes data collection.
Data serves multiple purposes within a teaching environment.
Teachers take data to document objective measures of progress
(or lack of progress for a student or group of students), to assess
student abilities, to assess the functions of challenging behavior and
develop behavioral support plans, to communicate with parents and
other staff members and provide consistency of programming across
environments and to make decisions about teaching, placement and
programming. Teachers
also engage in a number of other documentation processes including
present levels of performance on IEPs, home-notes and emails to
parents, conference summaries, and IEP goals and objectives.
It is important to understand that not all types of
documentation constitute data.
In order for data to be useful to teachers, and administrators,
it is important that it be interpretable to others, that it be easy to
use, easy to train staff
to use, provide some
level of consistency across classrooms, provide
key information for making decisions, and that it not interfere with
teaching efforts. Sometimes
daily data or event-by-event data is needed, but other times probe
data, data samples, and work samples will suffice.
Key
I: Make the data useful
Making
your collected data a useful part of the program is the first key and
of primary importance. If the data one collects has no other value
than as a visual aid for an IEP meeting or for filling in a report
card, there really is little sense in taking data at all. Data should
be used to shape the child's program, to assess the efficacy of the
chosen activities and teaching styles, and to look for trends in the
child's behaviors and learning.
Key
II: Make the data as painless as possible
The
second key is finding a style of data collection and analysis that is
comfortable and effective. We certainly do not want to end up spending
more time with our data than with our kids. That style will, of
course, be as individual as each person working with a child, and with
the activity or behavior being documented.
Here are a few hints and ideas on collecting and making use of data:
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For behaviors that are frequent and countable, one great way to track
the number of occurrences is to use small counters. Start the day with
a handful of paper clips or other small, light objects (plastic bingo
discs might work, as would beans) in your right pocket. Each time you
see the target behavior during the day, move a clip from the right
pocket to the left. At the end of the day, total up the counters in
your left pocket and record.
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Counters are very handy for tallying behaviors that occur quickly or
in a variety of settings where hauling a clipboard around might not
work well. I use a counter for a group of 4th graders who I work with
after school, and who can, at times, get a bit talkative. I keep track
of how many times I have to say, "Quiet, please," or
"Let's get back on track," or the like. Ten or fewer at the
end of the hour and it's rewards all around.
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One of the best ways to make data collection easier on you is to not
do it at all. Get peer tutors involved in flash card trials or the
like. Mark the inside of a manila folder with a plus on one side and a
minus on the other. If the child gets the trial right, the card goes
on the plus side, wrong, and it goes on the minus side. The peer can
then plug pluses or minuses into a data sheet when the session is all
over. Eventually, too, some kids can run such drills on themselves.
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Make time for your data. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to
quickly review it. Did the child have trouble with anything
specifically today that you might want to rethink for tomorrow
(additional prompting, more visual supports, a decreased demand). What
seemed to go particularly well and what can we draw from that to make
other activities more successful? Take a few minutes at the end of the
week to plot your new data points onto graphs (if you find the visual
of a graph helpful) and to look for emerging trends, which may drive
next week's teaching. Take a few minutes at the end of each month to
take a good look at how the program has gone, and where it might be
going.
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Choose to have a beginning and ending time frame for many of your
student's goals so that taking data is manageable.
For example, when writing your IEP goals be aware of objectives
that can be mastered in a shorter period so that upon mastery you can
be free of the data collection. Likewise, scatter your objectives
throughout the year so that focus and data collection is manageable.
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This is most important. Do not be afraid to zone the staff in
your room to be responsible for data taking. Make the sheets or system
you use accessible throughout the day.
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