In special education, paperwork and progress monitoring data collection can be a nightmare. There is so much to balance, especially with large caseloads. Organization is key! A few years into being a learning support teacher, we needed to start graphing our data digitally. Voila! These graphs were created! Here is a how-to guide for using these graphs in your classroom.
1. Make a copy for each student
Let’s get started in organizing your caseload! First step, make a copy of the google sheet for each one of your students. Each google sheet will hold the graphs for all the goals for that student. Rename the sheet with the student’s name and school year (Example: Rachel Welsh Progress Monitoring 2021-2022).
2. Add goals and materials
Next, you will copy and paste each goal into the goal box and add the materials in. This is especially helpful as it allows other professionals to see what materials you are using
3. Add other goal areas
If you don’t see a goal area that you need, click on the down arrow next to one of the sheets at the bottom of the page. Click on the duplicate button and rename the new sheet for the new goal area. If you need to graph both points and accuracy, duplicate reading fluency, math computation, or math application. If you only need to graph accuracy, duplicate decoding, encoding, reading comprehension, or math reasoning.
4. Add your progress monitoring for IEP goals
Adding data points is easy! Just put your cursor in the cell next to the date and type in the students data. This can be done from a phone, iPad, or laptop! This is super helpful when you need to add data from anywhere!
5. Share progress monitoring graphs with other staff
Do you have paraeducators or support staff help with data collection? I do! If you feel comfortable, you can have support staff add data into the sheet. You can share this sheet with other professionals by tapping on the share button and typing in their email address. Then, they will be able to make edits to the file.
Digital data collection is definitely a great option for the teacher who is on the go! It allows you to add or view data from anywhere. If you are interested in grabbing this graph template, click the button below to head to my TPT store.
