Student Performance Data in the Classroom

We conducted a survey to determine the use of measurement and evaluation procedures by special education teachers. A 70-item questionnaire was completed by 510 teachers in two large metropolitan school districts. Results indicate that the majority of teachers believe data collection is important and that they collect, record, and use data on student performance to determine instructional effectiveness, when to move students to the next skill, and which IEP objectives have been met. Teachers primarily collect accuracy rather than frequency data. Only one third of the teachers completing the survey use graphs for displaying and interpreting student performance data.