What if there was an easier way to keep our caseloads organized and under control?
When I first started teaching, I looked at all the other teachers in awe. They were so organized! They know what was coming up, where everything was. They seemed to never miss deadlines or lose track of papers or data.
Now, as an experienced teacher I realize, they were completely faking it! There is no possible way to never miss a deadline or never lose a paper. There are ways that we can make that a rare occurrence at least.
It wasn’t until my second year in special education that I started getting organized with my caseload management. I started with binders….huge binders….everywhere. All my work samples went in these binders, copies of IEP snapshots and anything else you can think of. When it came progress report or IEP time, sure I had LOTS of information. It was a nightmare to get through.
I’m not sure when I started developing my caseload manager in Excel. Over the years I have built an Excel workbook which holds all of my information for my entire caseload for the year. It includes all my important dates, my progress monitoring, creates progress reports, snapshots, accommodation trackers, meeting reminders and so much more for me. It is the hub of everything that I do when I look at my caseload. Obviously, I can’t walk you through creating something that huge. But I will help you get organized so that you can create one of your own if you are interested. Click here if you want to take a look at my Caseload Manager.
What will I need to set up a caseload manager?
When you are getting ready to set up your caseload manager, you’re going to want a copy or access to the active IEP for your entire caseload. Some of the things you will want is the annual review date, triennial or reevaluation date, eligibility categories, and what all the services and service providers for the student.
I suggest that you make your caseload manager digital. It’s much easier to work from home when you can access it on your computer, But the choice is up to you. I like mine digital also because it becomes a living document I update information as I go and don’t have to reprint lists every time something changes.
How can I make a caseload manager?
After you have compiled all of your information sources, make a list of your students, their annual and reeval dates, eligibilities, services and service providers. I did my caseload manager in Excel so that I could link the sheets. Once I type in a piece of information, I never have to type it again. Saving that little bit of time makes me happy. Plus it honestly really bothers me to repeat the same task over and over again. I just don’t think that teachers have time for those shenanigans. With links in Excel, you can connect sheets so that student names auto populate to other sheets. If not, you can retype names in to a new sheet. On the new sheet, I suggest you note the accommodations so that you can have an easy to go through list to tell teachers what accommodations students do or don’t have.
On another sheet, I do the same thing with goals. By listing out the student’s goals, I have an easy list to look through to figure out what goals I need to be progress monitoring. At the beginning of the semester, I go through the list and gather the materials I’ll need to progress monitor weekly. Again, if you know how to put links into Excel, it can create IEP snapshots for you. I went back and forth so many times on the format for those snapshots in my Caseload Manager, but I finally like the way they came out! My teachers really appreciate getting them at the beginning of the year, or after changes have been made.
Where can I store my progress monitoring data?
Create a space to save your progress monitoring data. My caseload manager graphs the data for me when I put it in. That makes it easy to copy and paste the graph into emails to parents or teachers. I also print those graphs to put in with my progress reports.
The last thing when setting up a caseload manager is to go through your calendar and put in a warning 3 weeks out for every due date. That gives time to get meetings scheduled and notices out in plenty of time.
Once you get your caseload manager up and running, it is an easy system to keep up with. It keeps you on track. Again, if all that sounds like more work than you want to put in right now, click here to take a look at my Caseload Manager that is all set up and ready to go for you!