I learn differently. 

When I was 6 years old, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia. Dyslexia wasn’t as well known back then. My classroom teacher didn’t know what to do with me. She certainly didn’t know how to deal with my learning differences in the classroom. 

Fortunately, my mom found some tutors for me who did know how to teach me to read. Dyslexia could have been a major impediment to my academic success. It became my biggest strength because those teachers welcomed my learning differences. 

Those teachers turned my learning difference into a strength.

I’ve had many teachers and professors over the years struggle with accommodating my learning difference. It isn’t their fault, and I do not blame them. 

I had a professor once who mentioned how great it would be if every student learned the same way. I humbly disagree.

Ok, no so humbly.

I became a teacher because I didn’t want every day to look the same. Helping students was my goal, but the challenge was what kept me coming back. Trying to figure out how to accommodate all of the students in the classroom made every day interesting.

Teachers have so much to do! Accommodating all of the learning differences in the classroom is an overwhelming thought, and that is without any implementation. But, can you imagine what our classrooms would look like if every student learned the same way?

If every student learned the same way, our classrooms would be boring.

Truth bomb: Even if the curriculum and standards didn’t change, most teachers would change up some aspect of their classroom yearly.

Yes, I said it.

We teachers are always finding new, better ways to reach and teach our students. Changing standards and curriculum, I think, gets in the way of real progress toward meeting student’s needs. 

What drives the changes teachers make year to year? Learning Differences.

What are some easy ways to accommodate learning differences in the classroom?

• Get to know student’s learning styles.
• Provide choices in how students show their learning.
• Play music (classical is really great for focus) during independent practice time.
• Teach students about THEIR learning styles.
• Use my freebie Appreciating Differences to help students learn about their own strengths. 
• Ask your students what lessons they learned the most from, and model future lessons after those.

Want to learn more? Check out my podcast episode for this topic!

The post Learning Differences are Welcome Here appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     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!

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     IEPs, and paperwork, goals, and present levels, evaluations, and reports….special education teachers are buried in all the things they have to do. Let’s talk about how to progress monitor IEP goals to make life easier.

      Last week we talked about Teaching IEP Goals. Now we will find easy ways to collect data on that great teaching you’ve done!

       One time-consuming activity is finding ways to collect data on goals that we have written. When we don’t collect that data over the course of the quarter, it really bites us at progress report time. So, this time around, let’s get in good shape to progress monitor the IEP goals and be ready next time progress reports roll around.

How do I start collecting data?

Start by breaking goals into 3 categories: Daily living skills, Executive functioning/behavior, and Academic.

How do I collect data for daily living skills?

     For daily living skills, I use a tracker to write the goal. Use plus or minus symbols to track the instances. For example, if the goal is to wash hands after using the restroom without prompting, I put a minus on the sheet if I needed to prompt the student. If they are successful, write a plus. Do this same process for feeding goals, or any toileting goals. Click the picture for a link to my free data tracker, so make sure you download that to get started in data tracking. 

How do I collect data on behavior?

     For behavior or executive functioning skills, my progress monitoring for IEP goals is very similar. I tend to track these over the course of the week, and will give my general education teachers sheets to track data, in addition to the ones I use in my classroom. For example, if the goal is for the student to write their homework in their planner when prompted in whole-group, the teacher could check when she walks around and if the student needs additional prompts, she would put a minus sign for the day. I like to collect general ed teacher data weekly so that they know that I’m looking at it and expecting to see some results over time. (For more about getting general education teachers involved in IEPs and data collection, check out How to Get Gen Ed Teachers Involved in IEPs.)

My behavior tracking is the same, the teacher (or I) might mark a plus sign when a student uses a break card, or raises their hand without calling out. At the end of the week, I would figure out the success rate and put that in my goal tracker. I’ll talk next week about how I use my goal tracker, but I will say that it has saved my butt several times when I’ve been called into last minute meetings with parents wanting to know why their child is failing Algebra or what-have-you. 

How do I collect academic data?

     For academic goals, obviously data collection looks different based on the skill and grade level. For letter, sight word, or number identification, I use my progress monitoring sheets and materials. My data collection always looks the same over time. This helps me to keep things organized. Also students become comfortable with the assessment format. This helps me know the percent correct is a good reflection of the student’s abilities. For examples of what I use for academic IEP goal progress monitoring, click the photo.

     Whatever way you choose to collect academic data, collect the assessment pieces before you begin. Then you have them ready as you go through the year. Getting them copied or prepared ahead of time, prevents scrambling to find things. Also the students will be more comfortable with the format. I’ve found that changing up the look of assessments can really distract students and can impact their performance.

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    Being a special education teacher is no joke. All the paperwork alone is enough to bury the best of teachers…and unfortunately sometimes the paperwork seems to just take over teachers lives….but on the rare occasions that we do get to actually teach, so many of us are inundated with demands to teach grade level skills. But that is part of the reason that many of our students with special needs are falling further and further behind their grade level peers. We need to teach IEP goals, but how?

     If you are anything like me, you deal with daily pressure to basically make magic happen for our students with special needs. This pressure gets heavier the higher you go in grades….it starts with teaching students to read, but also teach them the more advanced skills they need to pass their grade level benchmarks….and don’t forget to the teach the students about test taking strategies! But, we have goals in IEPs that we need to address too…. It can be so hard to find time to teach IEP goals!

     I’m going to go ahead and say the thing that shouldn’t be said….when we are prioritizing our time….what is more important? Meeting grade level benchmarks or filling in the gaps in foundational learning addressed in the IEP? My absolutely no-question response to this is…Filling in the foundational learning gaps! Fixing the foundational gaps in learning is the only way to actually close the learning gaps between our students, and the students who are on grade level. The fact is, we have to teach the students how to read and understand basic math so that they can begin to understand more advanced concepts, and eventually really learn the grade level concepts. 

     But, this does not fix the time constraints, and the fact is, we want our students to be able to move on with their peers to the next grade… AH! the pressure just makes my head hurt!

So, what do we do?

     When you get to see your students, the first 5-15 minutes needs to be set aside to work on IEP goals…. this could include practicing fluency facts, working on letter sounds, or phonics skills, or maybe even teaching executive functioning skills if that is one of your goals. During that time, giving the student direct instruction that is very short, and to the point is really helpful….then giving just a little bit of practice is needed to solidify the learning. 

     After IEP goal time, you will need to work on grade level learning. Before you jump into this, try to find some way to connect the IEP goal work to the grade level learning. In math, this can be pretty easy. Math fact fluency connects directly with word problems, or place value connects easily with learning about money or regrouping. Finding those connections helps students to understand and value the goal work that you do with them, as well as continue to practice the goal skill while they generalize it to the grade level work that they are doing. 

Why we must prioritize teaching IEP goals

     By prioritizing the IEP goals, we are limiting the amount of time that we can practice the grade level skills…but let’s be honest, how much are the students really going to truly understand the grade level work, if they don’t have the foundational skills they need to build to that level? Yes, the students can make it work, but is that really as beneficial in the long term as getting to really and truly understand the materials being presented? We must prioritize teaching IEP goals if we are going to close learning gaps and help our students be successful.

How wonderful would it be if we could have all the time we need to really close the learning gaps, and help students learn the grade level skills they need?

Someday, I truly hope that special education teachers receive the recognition they deserve for the work that they do…. While we wait for that day to happen, we will have to keep prioritizing our time and figuring out the best way to get as much done as we can. The first step is prioritizing teaching IEP Goals…the rest will follow. 

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The post How to Teach IEP Goals appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

Being a special education teacher is a huge job. Special education teachers impact so many struggling learners. They work tirelessly to create resources, work with student to attain learning goals, support gen ed teachers in teaching behavioral and academic skills, help students in the gen ed settings, coordinate schedules, communicate with teachers, service providers, administrators, and parents… all the things needed to track an IEP Caseload… Their to do list is never ending….and I haven’t even touched on what was the single most stressful aspect or this job for me….the paperwork… there should be a massive crack of thunder when I say that word…or at least it feels that way for me.

For many, paperwork is the most stressful part of being a special education teacher.

Whenever I talk with special ed teachers, and when I was one, the biggest stressor is paperwork. Whether it’s tracking IEP dates, scheduling, writing IEPs, writing reports, tracking data, graphing or reporting data, or the 8 million other things we do to get the paperwork done, it is so much! The weight is just overwhelming and exhausting!

So, how can we reduce this IEP Caseload paper monster? How can we get it under control so we have more time to focus on students?

Ok, here are some steps you can take.

Step 1

Start with looking at all your IEPs due dates and triennial or reeval due dates. 

Make a list of the meetings due each month. MY TRICK- I write down the IEPs due the month prior so that I know to schedule them then. For example, all my IEPs due in October, I write for September so that I know to get them scheduled and all that.

Step 2

Next step-If you can schedule them out….DO IT! It gives you an opportunity to have an introductory conversation, and to tentatively schedule a time-it really helps parents to know that their child is a priority and valued. This way, no matter how many students are on your IEP caseload, the parents know you are focused on their student’s needs. 

Step 3

Now, look at each student-make an IEP Snapshot (or cheat sheet) to share with gen ed teachers. As much as I’d love to say gen ed teachers read the whole IEP when we provide it to them….we know that’s not going to happen. So make a sheet with accommodations, modifications, goals, services, and IEP due dates-or the meeting date if you have already scheduled it. 

Click on the picture to the left to see what I have used to make my IEP Snapshots for years. 

Step 4

After you complete your snapshot, make a list of all the paperwork or steps you need to complete for your IEPs. Use this to make a checklist on your student roster. I like to list my IEP caseload down the left hand side of a sheet, and along the top I list every step to the process, including invitations, reminders, writing goals, everything to filing it at the end. This helps to ensure that you don’t miss a step accidentally along the way. 

What other little pieces can you do ahead of time so that you save 5-10 minutes once the IEP season is in full swing?

In that mindset, I’ve been using my caseload tracker for years to keep my IEP monster under control. I put dates, services, goals, accommodations, all that stuff in at once, and it auto populates my snapshot for teachers, roster for my lists, meeting reminders, accommodation trackers, and…I input my progress monitoring in and it graphs it for me. My biggest thing is saving time not typing the same thing multiple times, so it has been a life saver for me. 

If you would like to hear more about how I streamline the process, check out the Reaching Struggling Learners Podcast.
Be sure to check out Episode 12, where I will be sharing some more tips and tricks to streamline the paperwork so that you can get back to working with the kids!

Be sure to fill out the form to be added to the Everyday Teaching Adventures Newsletter. I’ll send out a short weekly info snippet to keep you informed…no spamming! Nobody has time for that!

The post How to Track an IEP Caseload Without Losing Your Mind appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

Before we dive into explaining Tier 3….do you feel comfortable with Tiers 1 and 2? If not….I understand! Check out RTI Tiers 1 and 2 Explained, then come back here for information on Tier 3!

Have a good handle on Tiers 1 and 2 and ready to move on? 

Let’s go!

Let’s get one thing out of the way….RTI is NOT a highway to special education.

Many teachers, administrators, and parents think that the RTI process is a way to “get” a child into special education….as though special education is the goal of the process. 

This is not the case at all! The goal of RTI is to fill in learning gaps and weaknesses to prevent a student needing additional services and possible removal from the general education instruction. 

If you are wondering about what happens before Tier 3…check out last weeks’ post about Tier 2!

If we are using the Tier correctly, the students we serve will be better equipped to be successful in the general education curriculum, without additional special education supports. This is why I am so passionate about this process. 

I see the potential this process has in supporting all learners.

So, let’s dive into explaining Tier 3…..

Tier 3 is the most focused and intense level of the RTI process, 

Students reach Tier 3 if they have been found to struggle at both the Tier 1 and 2 levels. This means that the supports provided at the Tier 2 level were not helping the student make enough growth to be able to be successful in the general education classroom independently. 

The interventions at the Tier 3 level can be provided by the classroom teacher or a specialist, depending on district rules and available resources. Those interventions should be focused on the cause of the problem, and be intense enough that the student should see some progress at this level. 

At the Tier 3 level, progress monitoring data should be taken at least weekly to determine if the intervention is working, or if it needs to be changed. 

Usually, when a student has been at Tier 3 for a month or so, teachers and parents start to ask what happens next. The answer is…..it depends. The team must decide about the progress made and next steps. One of the best things about this process is the answers are not left up to one individual. A team of educators come together to support the student and help determine what would best support that student’s progress.

That is Tier 3 in a nutshell…..But if you would like to have RTI Tier 3 explained with more examples and ideas, check out Episode 5 of Reaching Struggling Learners RTI Tier 3 Explained. 

The post RTI Tier 3 Explained appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

Not only do I have my energetic 4 year old to keep busy (for how I keep him engaged in science activities, check out: Science With an Energetic 4 Year Old), I have also been a teacher for 11 years. Clip-Its are awesome because they keep even my 4 year old busy and learning simultaneously.

I have taught general and special education at the elementary level, and one thing I have learned is that ALL students need multi-sensory learning. This is especially true for those students who are struggling. The more we can get kids active, the more they learn.

How do we get kids moving AND learning?

Multi-sensory learning gets kids moving and learning. One very effective way I have incorporated multi-sensory learning is through Clip-Its. Don’t know what those are? I didn’t several years ago either!

Most clip-its have a picture or question stem, and the student chooses one correct answer. They are FABULOUS for working on skills with students who need to be moving…aka our kinesthetic learners. Once I started using Clip-Its regularly, my OT angel told me that she was seeing MAJOR progress….double win right?

I use lots of different types of “clips” to help my students remain interested in the activity….also due to my awesomeness (actually…it was cheapness…the kids kept losing the clothespins and I hated replacing them) my kids were getting practice with fine-motor skills, and finger strength.

But, while working with my students, I realized that being able to find multiple correct answers to one question is a valuable skill. So, I started creating Multi-Clip-Its. Before long I realized that not only did having multiple answers help my students generalize their learning…..they also improved their attention spans, AND these cards were WAY less work for me. That was the trifecta of teacher happiness for this busy teacher!

After some work, I am now ready to share my Multi-Clips with you. Click the picture below for a multi-clips FREEBIE…because who doesn’t love a freebie??? Try them out with your kids and drop a comment below to let me know how it goes!

Like what you see and want more? Click the picture below for a link to my Multi-Clips Growing Bundle. It contains ALL my phonics Multi-Clips I have in my store now…but the best part? It’s a growing bundle, so as I add more clips, you will get them for free!

Interested in more information about progress monitoring or getting active students engaged? Subscribe below to keep in contact!

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Isn’t that what we are all looking for?

     Progress monitoring doesn’t have to be nearly as hard as it has been made out to be! Progress monitoring SHOULD be easy!

     There is a huge emphasis on “doing” progress monitoring, but teachers are left to their own devices to figure out how. For information about how to get started with progress monitoring, check out my blog post: 5 Steps to Begin Effective Progress Monitoring. It’s cool, I’ll still be here when you get back

     Alright, so you know how to begin, but WHAT DO I DO???? I need a “Progress Monitoring Made Easy for Dummies” guide! Well, if this is you, you’re in the right spot! 

     I have been “doing progress monitoring” for 11 years, and I have it down pretty well by now. I’m not perfect, but I’m more than glad to show you how you can do it without wasting a lot of time and energy.

Streamline your process to make progress monitoring easy.

     I cannot say this enough….if you want your progress monitoring to be easy, you HAVE to set yourself up for success! Do not wait until you have all of your students and goals in front of you then start ripping your hair out trying to figure out how to progress monitor all of it!

     Here is how I started the year streamlined, and made my life so much easier!   

     First, check out your grade level standards and talk to teachers in your grade level. You will quickly see patterns to what the students struggle with. If you are younger grades, guaranteed the kids will be struggling with beginning reading skills, and beginning math skills. If you are working with older students, vocabulary and fluency will be huge for math and reading. 

     With these thoughts in our minds, start gathering materials that you could use to progress monitor your students on the areas you are pretty sure will be weaknesses. For example, collect letter and number cards that you could use to “flash” to students to assess them during your progress checks. Years ago, I made my own set of letter flash cards with the corresponding data tracking sheets to easily track letters and letter sounds.You can check them out here to see what I did.

The key to progress monitoring made easy is versatility

      By this, I mean, any materials that you collect should be versatile enough to be used to assess any goal that you create for that subject area. If you checked out my letter and letter sound product above, you saw that I could use those materials to progress monitor ANY goal regarding identifying letters OR letter sounds. 

     Over the years, I have progress monitored many MANY goals. Instead of creating assessments which were created to only monitor one goal, I created items which could be used across many goals. I reduced my workload tremendously through this process.. Have a goal regarding fluency? I pull out my trusty fluency progress monitoring files and I can pull out the reading level I need. Graph that data! Then I put my fluency assessment back for the next student who needs it. That next student may be in my class this year, or three years from now. It won’t matter because fluency is fluency. 

     ****Special note here**** I do NOT change my goals to fit my assessments, I have worked long and hard to make my assessments versatile enough to use for many goals. When I come across a funky goal that doesn’t fit easily, I re-evaluate how I could make my progress monitoring assessments better fit a wider range of goals.  

I truly believe that the worst thing we can do, while progress monitoring, is make assessments geared specifically for one goal.

     Teachers simply do not have this kind of time on their hands! I know I don’t! I have WAY too many IEPs to write, progress reports to send home, behavior contracts to check, and evaluations to schedule/write/report to parents. I do NOT have time to create specialized assessments for every goal on my caseload! 

     I’ll admit, my first year of teaching, man I tried! I tried so hard to make assessments for every different goal. I worked so hard to find items I could use to monitor that fit the goal perfectly and as many hours as I put in, I never got everything done. That was before I had a husband….and kids….and needed more than 3 hours of sleep in a night. Now, I’ve got way too much on my plate to spend all of my waking hours doing school work, ESPECIALLY creating assessments! Anybody with me?

     So, I created some resources, which are linked below for you to look at to see how I did it. These resources and assessments I have used for years to make my progress monitoring an easy process. Check them out to see how I did it and still do it!

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Progress monitoring does NOT have to be another series of assessments!

You CAN integrate progress monitoring into what you are already doing in your classroom! Check out the 5 steps I have outlined below to help you make progress monitoring fit seamlessly into your classroom.

Step 1: Identify the area of weakness you want or need to progress monitor. If you aren’t sure where to start….take a look at my 5 Steps to Begin Effective Progress Monitoring blog post. There, I start you off on the right foot on this journey!

Step 2: Identify what activities you will use to help students practice the skill. Activities are the actual work the students do to practice skills.These activities should be activities similar to what the students already do. They will be used more frequently and focused (or higher intensity) on the specific skills you are addressing.

For example, when I work on identifying initial sounds in words, I have one of my centers dedicated to this task. Students who I am progress monitoring work on their focus letter sounds. The other students may use this center time to review all letter sounds, or work on writing the initial sound. This way ALL the students are working on the same (or nearly the same) skill. But the students who are being monitored have a very focused set of activities to help them succeed.

Wherever possible, choose games your students can use in centers or do independently for practice!

Games are a great way to encourage students to keep working, even if the skills they are practicing are hard. Click the link to check out some of the activities I have used to keep my students focused and learning!

Step 3: Choose quick assessment activities and intervals of assessment. No assessment that you use for progress monitoring should take longer than 2-3 minutes! Whenever possible, I choose assessments that the students can do independently. For example students can match letters with the picture with the initial or final sound.

For example, when working on letter sounds, I may choose to time the students on how many letter sounds they can identify in 1 minute. This keeps my assessment short and sweet, and it is easy to keep the student interested with a “race”. I have also given students a voice recorder and allowed them to read the sounds like a movie star. I can use the recording as a data point.

Need letter name or sound identification assessments? I have been using the one below for YEARS.

Step 4: Integrate the progress monitoring into the activities students do during the regular day. Whether the activity is part of their center rotations or small group instruction with you, it should be just another part of the day. The students visit and practice the skills which will help them to be successful. If your students are doing the activities daily, and you follow the assessment schedule, you should see rapid progress. And if you are like me, progress is always exciting!

As a side-note, I always have a hard time staying on track with my center rotations! I finally got around to getting a timer to keep me on schedule. My favorite teacher timer is the countdown clock. It visually shows the students how much time they have left in their center.

Step 5: Collect the data points and graph that information! For information on how I keep up with my data tracking, check out Data Tracking Like a Boss.

Are you excited to integrate progress monitoring into your daily routine? Drop a comment to let me know how these steps help you get the monitoring running smoothly in your classroom!

For more info. on integrating progress monitoring and data collection, hit subscribe!

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If this is you, you have come to the right spot! You are well on your way to being a progress monitoring guru at this point! (Maybe you don’t feel like it yet, but trust me, you are doing great!)

The next step in the progress monitoring adventure is….take a deep breath and don’t cry…..data.

Hate Data?

I used to, but not anymore! Now, well, honestly, it isn’t my favorite thing to do, but it definitely IS in my top 10 for teachers tasks….want to know how it got there? Read the post Meet My Friend Data, then head back here for some next steps.

All caught up? Yeah, Data and I had a rocky start, but every day we learn to better help the kids….anyway…..Data and progress monitoring go hand-in-hand….which is part of why administrators often-times think they are the same thing.

Not entirely clear on what progress monitoring is, or how to get started? I have defined it for you in What is Progress Monitoring? and given specific steps to get started in: 5 Steps to Begin Effective Progress Monitoring.

So, here we are: 3 or 4 weeks deep into this mess and somebody (let’s be honest, it was that annoying RTI coach wasn’t it?) wants to see your data for progress monitoring…and you pull out all those papers you’ve been carefully writing scores and information on…..and that somebody looked at you like you were crazy….oh…that didn’t happen to you?….ummm…well…yeah that happened to me….once….and I vowed it would never happen again. (SUPER embarrassing by the way)

I am not the most organized teacher…or organized at all…but you would never know it by looking at my data!

Now, after 10 years in this business, I have my data collection sheets ready to go, but more importantly….

About 9 years ago, I started playing around with Excel to track my progress monitoring data. I figured out how to make graphs and write formulas, and one of my best tools was developed out of that….Haha! I say developed like it was a beautiful, gentle process….nope. I made countless spreadsheets, and messed up on the numbers and formatting sooo many times. For at least a year, I cursed Excel, but my husband told me to get over myself and helped me figure it out….He was my boyfriend at the time…now, that would never work….he has spoiled me too much…..Yet, in the end, all that work paid off. I now have a spreadsheet system I use to progress monitor (meaning graph data) for my kids… It works wonderfully to streamline the process for me.

I input in the information, and it is graphed for me. I even got all fancy and made a progress report page. That way I could report progress data to admin or parents on specific goals. This has been a huge time-saver for me!

Don’t want to spend hours (years in my case) like I did creating this from scratch? Take a look at it below. The comments speak for themselves.

If you are feeling creative, and want to make something similar, I suggest you start playing around in Excel to see what the program can do. There are lots of tutorials out there, though I will admit that I did find them confusing and had to adapt what I saw presented to what I wanted.

Whichever path you choose….having my progress monitoring data graphed automatically has been a HUGE time saver for me, especially when sharing the progress with parents and admin.

Not sure Excel works for you?

I have also made these data tracking forms to help with keeping a handle on all of the goal tracking data for students with special needs in one easy-to-use-technology-free format.

My biggest suggestion: Put in your data weekly so that it is always pretty current. That way you never get caught off guard (like I did) with the “What does the data look like?” question.

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