Special Education Teachers\u27 Collection and Use of Data to Measure Student Progress

The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not teachers use systematic and direct formative assessment techniques and if implementing these techniques has an effect on teacher efficacy. The participants (N = 89) were practicing special education teachers from urban and rural school divisions across Virginia and from one graduate-level course in special education. Data were collected using portions of the Data Collection and Analysis Survey (Cooke, Heward, Test, Spooner, & Courson, 1991) and selected items from the Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson, 1983). The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Of the 89 surveys distributed, 32 teachers responded. The results indicated that the majority of teachers considered frequently collected data important and regularly collected data to measure student progress. The overwhelming majority of teachers did not graph the data they collected. However, the majority of teachers did respond to the data they collected. Findings also indicated that whether teachers considered frequently collected data important or unimportant influenced the frequency with which teachers used anecdotal notes and data to determine the effectiveness of instruction. In addition, there were statistically significant relationships between the frequency with which teachers collected frequency or rate data, the frequency with which teachers used data to determine when to work on the next skill, as well as the frequency with which teachers used data to determine if IEP objectives had been met and the indicators of teacher efficacy. Limitations included the low rate of return for the surveys, which may affect the generalizability of the results, and the reliance on teachers\u27 self-reported responses. Future research should involve direct work with teachers to explore fully their collection and use of data in practice