Assessment+Record+Keeping

__** Assessment Record Keeping **__ Record keeping is directly related to assessment and goal setting. Consistent, ongoing documentation of student work and progress ensures that teachers will have evidence of year-long student growth. This evidence becomes vitally important in communications with students, parents and administrators as the year goes on. Additionally, student work can and should be used when teachers have questions about specific programs that might be needed when referring students for special services. It is important to begin the year with ideas for a record keeping system that will be manageable for the teacher and the students. Additionally, these data are valuable sources of information for teachers to use when working with students throughout the year and helping them achieve their own goals. Below are some methods of record keeping:

**Notebooks:** Many teachers use notebooks to store and collect student data. Simply tabbing a section for each student proves to be an easy way to record data. Choose the assessment measures to keep for each student and store in the tabbed sections.

**Index cards on a ring:** When you use file cards, punch a hole in the top left corner of the card and put it on a ring. Write the name of each student on a file card in alphabetical order. When the student's card is filled with the assessment data you choose, you can remove it from the stack, store it in a designated place and add a new card.

**Individual student folders:** Some teachers prefer to keep all of the information they have gathered about students in individual student folders. Folders can contain multiple assessments and can be used particularly when conferencing with parents. Be sure to have a place in the classroom to store student folders when they are not being used. Plastic crates or storage bins work well. Folders contain any type of assessment data either in the pocket or attached in the center. Some teachers like to write anecdotes directly in the folder, while others write on sticky labels and then transfer them to a folder. Here are a few forms to keep in the individual folders:


 * Behavior chart: **


 * **My Spelling Test Progress Chart:** On this graph, students must record the date next to the list (test) number and then color horizontally the number of boxes to represent how many words they spelled correctly on that particular test. This graph on has enough room to graph 28 tests. I copy the graph back to back on cardstock.


 * **My First Grade Writing Rubric:** This is a form I use to evaluate a student’s writing. I take 4 samples throughout each quarter which is about every 2 weeks. When the quarter is over, I use this sheet along with a current writing sample to come up with a grade. The letters at the bottom of each rubric mean (BE) Below Expectations, (ME) Meets Expectations, and (EE) Exceeds Expectations. The numbers next to each quarter represent the number of points need to “meet expectations” for each quarter. This is still a work in progress.


 * **My Reading Progress Chart:** This represents Fountas & Pinnell guided reading levels for each quarter for first grade. A students “meets expectations” if she is reading at a level where the stars are for each quarter.


 * ** Benchmark Testing Scores: **


 * **My Math Progress Chart:** This is used to record Written Assessments Scores in Math.


 * **Homework Chart:** This is very specific to my classroom. I have to make a new one every year. When a student doesn’t return her homework, she must color in the box for that day. At the end of the quarter, I use this information to give her a grade on her report card. I copy this back to back on cardstock.


 * Homework Completion Chart for the Student's Record **




 * Incomplete Homeword Log for Teacher Records **

**Note to Send Home to the Parents:** This will help keep the parents informed about their child's missing homework and even has a space for the student to set a goal to fix this problem so it will not become an issue in the future.

**Clipboard:** Sometimes keeping a clipboard is the most convenient way to collect assessment data for your students. Teachers keep anecdotal record forms and other types of forms, along with labels, in the clipboard. Be sure to write the names of all your students either on the forms or labels, depending on what type of data collection method you choose. This will help ensure that you collect weekly data for each of your students. You may want to place the forms or labels alphabetically by student last name so when you need to retrieve data, it is easy to locate a particular student. Later on, place all of your documented information in the student file or folder.

**Class Record Chart:** Sometimes you need to collect similar information for all of your students. A class record chart helps you organize this type of record keeping. The chart can be used to list the different genre students are reading, a writing piece each student has chosen to revise or edit, or student responses to a whole or small group lesson.




 * Guided Reading Notes **



**Checklists:** Checklists are effective record keeping tools that can be used to identify certain observable behaviors. Teachers generally create their own checklists to reflect what kind of learning is going on in the class and what individual students are actually learning. After identifying specific behaviors to document, teachers look specifically at those items and then check them off as they are observed.


 * RTI Forms **
 * IEP Forms **