Data Notebooks

To Use or Not To Use

By

Theresa Whitehead

Who used data notebooks?

• Marmet Elementary School

• Theresa Whitehead’s 3rd Gr. Class

• 15 students

• High Transient Population

• Free Breakfast and Lunch Program

What is a data notebook?

A data notebook is a tool that my class used to assist students in taking an active roll in the learning process.

Students must understand that learning is a process in which they are required to put forth effort to achieve success.

When and where are data notebooks used?

Students used their data notebooks primarily in our classroom to keep track of their progress on a daily basis.

Why use data notebooks?

Data notebooks help my students focus on academic achievement.

Beginning of the school year there were:

• 6 students receiving Title 1 serves

• 6 students in the SAT process due to low assessment scores (potentially needed evaluation for suspected learning disabilities)

• 1 IEP student

End of the school year there were:

• 0 students receiving Title 1 services

• 0 students in the SAT process

• 1 IEP student

How are data notebooks set-up?

The notebooks had five main components.

1. End of the Year Goals

2. Attendance and Behavior

3. Reading

4. Math

5. Writing

Section 1: Goals

At the beginning of the school year each student had to write a statement reflecting what they wanted to achieve by the end of the school year.

Example:

My End of the Year Goals

• By the end of the school year I want to be an A/ B student.

• I want to be able to do ten push-ups in a row.

• I also want to make perfect attendance.

Section 2:Attendance and Behavior

Students use monthly charts to track their

attendance and behavior.

Section 3: Reading

There were four sub-sections in which students used charts to track their reading progress.

1. DIBELS

2. Accelerated Reader

3. Achieve 3000

4. Pearson

Section 4: Math

There were three sub-sections that were used to track progress in math.

1. Everyday Math Test Scores

2. Scholastic Math Inventory

3. Math Facts

Section 5: Writing

In this section students displayed samples of writing assignments.

1. Narrative

2. Informative

3. Persuasive

Benefits of Tracking Student Data

Students became responsible for their own learning and achievement by…

• Being Empowered through Knowledge

• Taking Ownership

• Taking Initiative

• Planning for Success

Other Benefits

• Students shared their data notebooks with guest during our Covey Leadership Days

• The teacher shared the data notebooks at Student Assistant Team meetings

• Students and or the teacher shared data notebooks at IEP meetings

• Data notebooks were shared in student lead conferences

Reading Achievements

DIBELS

100% of the students met the end of the year 3rd grade goals

Achieve 3000

approx. 84% of the students exceeded the end of the year 3rd grade goal

and are on the college and career readiness track

Accelerated Reader

approx. 90% of the student were reading on or

above the 4th grade level

Math Achievement

Scholastic Math Inventory

approx. 74% of the students met the end of the year 3rd

grade goal

Math Facts

approx. 52% of students mastered addition, subtraction,

and multiplication facts

approx. 33% of students mastered all facts including the

division facts

15% of students mastered addition and subtraction facts

What did students learn?

Students learned…

• how to interpret the data

• how to calculate academic growth

• how to determine why they made or failed to make progress

• how to use data to plan their next steps for continual progress

Set-Up for Next Year

The end of the year assessment reports in all sections of the data notebooks were printed off and used to set-up the notebooks for the next school year. The notebooks are passed on to the next grade level teacher.

On the first day of school students will be able to review their achievements from last year. This allow students to develop new goals for the new school year.

Citations

All photos are taken from my grandson Jaeden’s data notebook.

Jaeden was a student in my classroom last year.

Thank you Jaeden for allowing me to share pictures of your notebook.