As an advocate who has sat through many Special Education meetings in two different states and a multitude of school districts, I have repeatedly identified one of the key components that qualifies a student for special services or an accommodation on a 504, or prevents it from happening: DATA.
If you are a parent or guardian of a child who struggles academically you will want to read this article carefully, even print it out.
I want to share with you how to collect academic data on your child from home. However, prepare yourself for the time it will take and the need for you to be organized, disciplined, and diplomatic.
 What you will need:
1)Â Â A notebook to write in or a folder on your computer/phone
In this notebook you will write down every phone conversation and meeting (formal or informal) you have with your child’s teacher or someone who interacts with your child in school. Record the date, time, and with whom you spoke to. Be sure to include those quick antidotal you may have with the teacher at dismissal time, too. The notes don’t have to be detailed but should be summarized.
Example 1: Matthew ran out of time on his math test last Friday, 10.23.18; did not complete five questions; failed test.
Example 2: Matthew did not have his SS homework – read chapter 3, answer questions 1-4
Example 3: Matthew has detention on Wednesday for being disrespectful to his teacher when he asked Matt to move his seat
Â
2)  In your email create a folder for all correspondences you exchange with anyone you electronically communicate with at your child’s school.
You will be doing a lot of emailing. You will need to save all of your emails in one place where you can easily access them instead of hunting through months of emails.
After every phone call you are going to send the person you spoke to a quick email thanking them for their time and summarizing what the conversation was about. If they disagree with your summary of the phone call they will email you back. This is a good way for both parties to have clarity on the topic discussed.Â
Important Note: You are going to thank that teacher (or whomever you spoke with) for their time. Your child is not their only student and teaching is not the only thing a teacher has going on in his/her life. Additionally, this builds a positive working relationship with your child’s teacher. You both have the same goal: to have your child succeed.
Â
3)  One folder designated to collect your child’s classwork.
In elementary school teachers usually send home their students’ classwork at the end of the week. Review the classwork. Observe if your child finished the assignment, were there numerous corrections, or were there things your child had incorrect but was not corrected. Your child’s classwork are work samples you can use in a meeting to support why your child may need an accommodation or a specific goal on their IEP.
In middle school and high school classwork is usually given directly to the student throughout the week. At the end of every week go through your child’s back pack with them and pull out the classwork returned to them. This is an excellent time to ask your child questions about the assignments: Why is it incomplete? What was hard about this assignment? Did you ask the teacher for help?
 You should feel free to contact your child’s teacher and ask him/her why classwork or quizzes/tests are not completed, or with any question you have about assignments. When talking to the teacher make sure you do not sound as if you are attacking him/her. Let the teacher know you are noticing patterns emerge in your child’s work and you are trying to develop an understanding where they are stemming from. It should not surprise you if your child’s teacher tells you he/she has the same concern.
On the back of the assignments write down what you observe: examples: all subtraction equations wrong, timed assignment not completed in class, did not complete all questions on quiz/test.
Â
4)Â Â A second folder designated to keep copies of the homework your child does.
 Watch as your child does his or her homework. How much time does it take your child take to do the homework in the different subject areas? If your child is struggling while doing math homework note what kind of problem they are working on. Is it a word problem? It is a multi-step equation? While doing a reading assignment do you notice your child struggles with decoding words or answering basic reading comprehension questions? Can your child answer the question verbally but struggles to get those same thoughts out in written response? These are important observations to make.
When your child is doing his/her homework write notes to the teacher where your child is struggling, if your child is in elementary school. If your child is in middle school or high school have your child write on their homework next to the questions or equeation where they got stuck (Example: I did not what way to move the negative integer on the number line.). Then, photocopy the homework sheet, or use a scanner app on your smart phone, and keep a copy of it in a folder. This, again, is data collection.
0 Comments