How Many Data Points are Enough?

Jill Yakel
Dr. Miller
7/25/16

For this post, since I am a paraprofessional, I do not engage in progress monitoring of

students. However, I was able to interview Lisa Halvorsen who teaches within the Lincoln
Public Schools system.
1. When you are engaged in progress monitoring, how many data points do you
usually collect over how many weeks before making an instructional decision?
Explain your rational.
For this question, Lisa stated that it really depends on the disability of the student. For
students with a verified disability of emotional disturbed (ED), she said data was collected every
day. For students with a reading disability, she collects one or two data points each week over an
eight-week period, and feels that this is sufficient. For those students with a verified reading
disability and not ED, Lisa stated that it was important to know the individual student. Lisa
also pointed out that if a teacher knows that a student had problems with behavior, even though
they have not been identified, more data points would be needed to gather pertinent information.
In this case, the reason for more data points would be to bring the issue to an administrator for
further testing for an identification of ED/BD (behavior disorder). According to Shapiro (2013),
data-based documentation of repeated assessments of achievement and reasonable intervals (p.
60) is just one way of determining a students eligibility for special education.

2. How does this compare to Shapiros (2013) recommendations? If you collect

fewer data points and over a shorter time period than Shapiro recommends, then
discuss your reason for doing this.
According to Ardoin, Christ, Morena, Cormier, and Klingbeil (2013; as cited by Shapiro,
2013), a minimum of eight weeks with multiple data points collected per week is needed for
reliable and valid interpretation and instructional changes (p. 61). It is also recommended that
at least 12-weeks of data collection is needed when determining eligibility for special education.
Lisa stated that in her math class she collects fewer data points. She states that collecting
math data is easier because she can use her own math quizzes and tests and the districts quizzes
and tests. When asked if this is her primary form for collecting data points, she stated that it was
because it was difficult to pull students out of classes because of restricted time.

While talking with Lisa, I was also able to get another teachers perspective, and I was
told that Lincoln Public Schools (LPS), doesnt require a specific CBM or CAT for assessment,
and that it is left up to the teachers as to what they want to use for assessments on students in
regards to progress monitoring. The only requirement is that the assessment tool must be a
researched-based assessment. I was told that for reading, all special education teachers at the
elementary level were using either the Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI) or the Jamestown
reading passages. The Jamestown reading passages cannot be started and used until fourth
grade, whereas the QRI can be used pre-primary through high school. Jamestown is multiple
choice, and students can read aloud and can be tested for grade-level fluency. Using Jamestown,

you can also use this assessment program to have the students look back to choose answers or
not look back; but I was told that most high schools are teaching the students to use look back
skills.
I feel that if LPS is wanting to increase student learning, they should decide on one set of
assessments that needs to be used throughout the district at all levels, k-12. Many students move
within the district and are forced to attend another school. If a student is listed as being in
special education and each school is using a different assessment method, then transferring those
records to another school where another assessment method is used, scores are going to be
misread and could be misinterpreted by another teacher, therefore causing undue hardship to the
student who has moved from one area of town to another.

References
Shapiro, E. S. (2013). Commentary on progress monitoring with cbm-r and decision making:
Problems found and looking for solutions. Journal of School Psychology, 59-66.
Retrieved from https://cupo.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-433957-dt-content-rid5529236_1/courses/20163030183-cune/resources/week5/wk%205%20CBM-R%20and
%20PM%20Problems%20and%20Solutions%20Shapiro.pdf