It is Wednesday afternoon. A teacher counts the probes she meant to give this week and finds six. By Friday there will be a staff meeting, a parent call, and a student who needs her in the cafeteria. The data week will be lost unless it is planned like every other part of the job.
Collecting data every week is not hard. It is easy to skip. This guide offers a model week and a review cycle, with a time budget you can adjust.
What the sources suggest
The MTSS Center's article gives practical tips: review data on a regular schedule, such as every two weeks; have one person flag graphs before meetings; use the data for timely decisions; and spread data collection across the week. Its chart of progress monitoring features lists at least weekly monitoring at tier 3 and at least biweekly at tier 2. NCII's behavior guide says a goal should be monitored often enough to determine progress and make timely decisions. And Utah's goals guide says to collect behavior data daily.
None of these is a rule for your IEPs. Your IEP states how progress is measured and when it is reported, as section 300.320 requires. Start with what each IEP promises, then build the week around it.
An invented caseload and its budget
Take 12 students with academic goals monitored weekly with a five-minute probe, and 4 students with a daily behavior tally.
| Task | How many | Minutes each | Total minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic probe, give and score | 12 | 5 | 60 |
| Daily behavior tally review | 4 students, 5 days | 1 | 20 |
| Enter data and update graph | 16 | 2 | 32 |
| Flag review | 1 | 20 | 20 |
| Total | 132 |
That is about two hours and twelve minutes. The probes are the largest block, and the one most often cut. If your total is more than you can spare, change the plan on purpose: move a few students to every other week, if their IEPs allow, or ask for help with the tallies.
A model week
| Day | Task | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Probes for students A to D | 20 |
| Tuesday | Probes for students E to H | 20 |
| Wednesday | Probes for students I to L | 20 |
| Thursday | Makeups for absent students, and behavior tally review | 22 |
| Friday | Enter data, update graphs, flag review | 50 |
Each student is probed on the same day each week, so spacing stays even. Friday is the catch-all, and it is also when the flags come out. The MTSS Center's tip about spreading collection across the week is why Monday to Wednesday each carry about a third of the probes.
The Friday flag review
Once the graphs are updated, look at each for four things.
- Is the latest point below the goal line again? Three in a row is worth a note.
- Did something change? A new schedule or absences.
- Is a decision rule's minimum reached? See how many data points before deciding.
- Is a report due soon? Check the calendar.
Mark flagged students on the caseload page, and put each on the agenda for the next team meeting. The MTSS Center suggests one person do this before meetings, so that the meeting itself is spent deciding rather than looking for numbers.
The longer cycle
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Weekly | Collect, enter, graph, flag |
| Every two weeks | Look at all flagged students with a colleague or team |
| Monthly | Print the current graphs, file them, check the goal cards |
| Before each report | Pull latest scores, write comments |
| At each IEP meeting | Update goal cards, reset baselines for new goals |
The reporting dates come from each IEP. See quarterly vs trimester reporting for how those dates interact with your monitoring.
When the week falls apart
It will. A fire drill, a sick day, a testing week.
- Do not backfill. If you miss a probe, give it on the next school day and write that date. Never record a guess.
- Protect one slot. A Friday block that you guard is worth more than a perfect plan that gives way.
- Rotate, do not drop. If you can only do half the probes, alternate halves each week and note it.
- Tell someone. If a student with a weekly IEP schedule is missed twice, tell your case manager or supervisor. It is a staffing issue, not a personal failing.
- Mark it on the graph. A gap with a reason is information.
When the load is too much
If the budget will not fit, bring numbers to your supervisor. A short note works: "To monitor these 16 goals on the schedules in the IEPs, I need about 132 minutes a week. I have about 90. Here is what I can drop, and here is what I would need to keep all of it." That is a request about workload, and it is easier to act on than "I'm behind on data." It also puts the cost of each promise in the IEP where decision makers can see it, which is the right place for it.
Make the setup cheap
- Pre-print the sheets. Have next week's sheet filled in with the date on Friday.
- Keep materials in one place. Timer, forms, key, and pencil in a single pouch.
- Use one template. The same table and graph for every student, as in graphing IEP data in a spreadsheet.
- Keep a binder. See a sample IEP data binder layout.
- Group where you can. See small group data tracking.
Routine mistakes
- Doing all the probing on Friday. One day is lost to testing, and the rest is rushed.
- Changing the day for a student every week. The spacing wobbles.
- Entering data once a month. Errors and gaps pile up.
- Having no one flag graphs. Problems surface at the meeting.
- Treating the plan as fixed. Adjust after two weeks of real time tracking.
Terms are in the glossary.
Fitting the routine to your caseload
The sources give minimum frequencies and examples, not the right schedule for a given caseload. Your IEPs, your district's expectations, and the supports you have set the plan. If the data load is more than the week can hold, raise it with your supervisor with a time budget in hand.