Janalyn Biesinger shared the following;
We have been having that discussion in our team at Granite, and we are changing our data sheet to be more quantitative, so I thought I’d share the idea. Our previous data sheet had a spot for the date, circle the code [ I (independent) WA (with assistance) BK (broken) NT (no time) AB (absent) ], and a space for comments. We told each school we needed at least 20 days of data before making a decision that the device was a good fit for the student or it looked like we needed to try something different. Twenty days of data is our mantra….every time we go out we ask for 20 days of data on a device.
Recently, when we go out and speak with teams we use a 1 – 10 rating scale or a percentage. “On a scale of 1-10 useful is the device?” “On a scale of 1-10 how needed is the device?” “What percentage of time in English class is a device needed?” (Julia, maybe you see a little Quiet Leadership in these types of questions…?!) It is still subjective but it gives a little more quantitative thought to the questions and gives team members a measuring stick so much more than “It’s working well.”
We are changing our data sheet to a Leiter Scale. O = not used at all, 1 = needs assistance or partially effective or skills are emerging, 2 = independent and very useful. The beauty of a Leiter Scale is that it can easily be figured into a percentage. With 20 days of data you automatically have a potential of 40 points, since each use is worth 2 points. Then the actual use is counted….maybe you have 3 days when the device is not used (0 points), a learning curve over 2 weeks where the teacher had to assist the student (1 point each day for 10 points), and the student is using it independently for 7 days (2 points for each day = 14 points). Total points: 24 / 40 = 60%. (Also, it is easy to see the trend moving upward towards independent. The state office loves trends! The Dibbles test looks at upward trends. ) A Leiter 3-point Scale is an easy way for teachers to take data and it makes it quantifiable for us.
Thought I’d share.