Marcus Whitfield
Staff writer, editorial desk
Marcus writes and updates the guides on Goal Data Notebook. His work is reading the federal IEP rules, state guidance, and research summaries on progress monitoring, turning them into step-by-step methods, worked examples, and small calculators, and re-checking each guide on a set schedule. He is not an attorney, a school psychologist, or a statistician, and nothing here replaces your district procedures or your team's professional judgment.
How guides are researched and re-checked is described on how we review. To report a correction, use the contact page.
Guides by Marcus Whitfield
A Sample IEP Data Binder Layout That Stays Current
A tab-by-tab IEP data binder or folder layout with a one-page goal card, a data log, a graph, and report copies, plus an upkeep routine and privacy notes.
Tools and organizationA Weekly Data Routine for a Special Education Caseload
A model week for collecting, graphing, and reviewing IEP data for a caseload, with a time budget, a review cycle, and what to do when a week falls apart.
Data collectionABC Data Sheets Explained for Teachers
How to record antecedent, behavior, and consequence: what to note, when an ABC form beats a tally, how long to observe, and what it cannot prove.
GraphingAimline and Trendline Explained for IEP Progress Graphs
What an aimline (goal line) and a trendline are, how to draw both, and how NCII's decision rules compare them, with a calculator for the slopes.
BaselinesBaseline vs Present Levels: What Goes Where in an IEP
A baseline is one measured number. Present levels (PLAAFP) wrap it in strengths, impact, and comparison. See what goes where, with Utah and NCII examples.
Data collectionBehavior Frequency and Duration Data for IEP Goals
How to count, time, and compare behavior data for an IEP goal: frequency, duration, latency, and intensity, with a baseline plan and worked examples.
Reading and math measuresCurriculum-Based Measurement Basics for IEP Teams
What curriculum-based measurement is, what makes a tool fit for IEP goals, which skills NCII lists by grade, and how timed probes are given and scored.
Tools and organizationData Privacy for IEP Records and Data Sheets
What IDEA's confidentiality rules and FERPA's education record definition mean for teacher data sheets, graphs, and files, with habits for storing them.
Decision rulesDecision Rules: When to Change an IEP Intervention
Four-point, trend line, and median-of-three decision rules from NCII, with minimum data, a worked example, and what to check before you change a plan.
Data collectionGeneralization and Maintenance Data for IEP Goals
Check that a skill works in other settings, with other people, and weeks later: what the PROGRESS Center and IES say, plus a simple probe plan.
Decision rulesGoal Not Progressing? A Checklist Before You Change
A ten-step checklist for flat progress data: check the measure, aimline, fidelity, dosage, alignment, transfer, and the cause before you change a plan.
GraphingGraphing IEP Data in a Spreadsheet, Step by Step
Build an IEP progress graph in Excel or Google Sheets: a data table, an aimline column, a chart with a trendline, SLOPE, and a labels checklist.
Decision rulesHow Many Data Points Before You Decide?
What NCII and the MTSS Center say about how many data points a baseline, a trend, and a decision need, and how monitoring frequency sets how long you wait.
GraphingHow to Read an IEP Progress Graph: A Guide for Parents
A plain-language guide to the lines and dots on an IEP progress graph, what to look for, five questions to ask the teacher, and what a graph cannot show.
BaselinesHow to Set an IEP Baseline: Measure, Probe, Record
Choose a measure, give three probes, take the median, and write the baseline with dates and conditions, following 34 CFR 300.320 and NCII's guide.
Data collectionIEP Data Collection in General Education Classrooms
How special and general education teachers share IEP data collection: what IDEA requires, a one-page plan, simple tools for big classes, and who does what.
Decision rulesIEP Goal Mastered: What to Do Next With the Data
What it means to master an IEP goal, how NCII's rules and behavior guide point to raising the goal or fading supports, and what the IDEA review rule says.
Data collectionInterval Recording and Time Sampling in the Classroom
Whole-interval, partial-interval, and momentary time sampling compared with one worked example and the steps from a South Dakota state form.
Reading and math measuresMath Fact Fluency Progress Data for IEP Goals
Monitor math fact and computation fluency for an IEP goal: single-skill vs general probes, timing by grade, scoring, baselines, and goals, with examples.
Reading and math measuresOral Reading Fluency Progress Monitoring for IEP Goals
How oral reading fluency probes are scored as words correct per minute, and how to read it against a benchmark and turn it into an IEP baseline.
Data collectionParaprofessional Data Collection for IEP Goals
What paraprofessionals can and cannot do with IEP data, what IDEA and Texas guidance say about training and supervision, and a short training routine.
Data collectionPercent Accuracy vs Trials vs Duration for IEP Goals
How to pick the kind of number for an IEP goal: percent of trials, count, rate, duration, or rating, plus a calculator showing how far a percent can swing.
Reporting to parentsProgress Report Comments That Say Something
Replace vague IEP progress comments with sentences that carry a number, a measure, and a next step, with rewrites, frames by status, and words to avoid.
Reporting to parentsQuarterly vs Trimester IEP Progress Reporting
What IDEA says about when IEP progress reports are given, how quarterly, trimester, and semester schedules compare, and how data and workload change.
Decision rulesRate of Improvement Explained, With a Calculator
Calculate rate of improvement, compare growth so far with growth needed, and set a goal from national norms, with a browser calculator and NCII's formulas.
Reporting to parentsReporting IEP Progress to Parents With Data
What IDEA requires for IEP progress reports, what Connecticut's manual and a parent-center guide say a report holds, and a data layout for each goal.
Data collectionRubric Scoring for IEP Goals That Two People Can Repeat
Build a rubric or task analysis for an IEP goal so two scorers agree: described levels, anchors, a criterion, and a quick agreement check, with a sample.
Tools and organizationSmall Group Data Tracking Without Losing the Individual
Collect and track IEP data in small groups: which probes can be given to a group, a grid for four students, and why each goal still needs its own graph.
BaselinesWriting Measurable Criteria for IEP Goals
Condition, target skill, and criterion explained, with three ways to pick the number (benchmark, rate of improvement, own growth) from NCII and Utah.
Reading and math measuresWriting Progress Monitoring for IEP Goals
Monitor writing for an IEP goal: which scores NCII lists for grades 1 to 6, how to set conditions and criteria, and why a rubric alone is not enough.