SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
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Is there anything you wouldn’t be willing to do to make the case that you are doing your job in your classroom?
. . .
Bam! Bam! Bam! "Court is now in session. Will Special Education Teacher X, please take the stand." A young teacher came forward. "Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"
"I do."
"We would like to know if your students are making progress on their IEP objectives."
"Well, yes, I believe so."
The prosecutor attacked, "What do you mean you ‘believe so?’ Aren’t you taking data?"
"I resent that comment! What do you take me for, some gold digger who is only in teaching for the money?!"
"So you are taking data then. . ." the teacher was about to respond when he cut him off, "no let me rephrase that question. What does you data tell your about how your students are progressing on their IEP objectives?"
"As I stated, I believe so, I believe they are making progress. I have taken reams of data, and I think they are making progress."
"But that's the point. If you are taking data, why don’t you know if your students are making progress or not. You have gone to all the trouble of taking the data. Why haven’t you taken the next step of graphing your data in order to be sure that your students are making progress?"
"Well . . . I never thought . . . I just was . . ."
"Too lazy? I ask you Teacher X, are you incompetent?"
"No, but . . ."
"Would you say that it is important to you that your students are progressing in their educational programs?"
"Well of course, but I never . . ."
"What about your student’s parents? Don’t you want to present your student’s growth in a manner that parents can understand?"
"Sure I do but I . . ."
" . . . And the best you can say is ‘I believe so’ when asked whether your students are progressing?"
"I’m sorry, I didn’t realize . . ."
"That you could graph your data? Come now Teacher X. You never heard of graphing data? I find that hard to believe Teacher X, very hard to believe." A hush came over the court room. Everyone anticipated the prosecuting attorneys final words. "Haven’t you taken McNair’s class on data management?"
Teacher X could only shake his head. Tears began to roll down his cheeks. "I just never thought it would come to this."
The attorney turned to his papers. Shuffling them carefully he placed them into his briefcase. He had earned his fee, the case was won. Quietly he said, "The prosecution rests."
Hopefully, you will never be dragged into a court of law over your educational practices, however, if you were you would be glad you were taking data. You would be perhaps ever gladder that you had been monitoring your student’s performance over time through the graphing of the data.
Graphing need not be the simple placement of dots on a sheet of graph paper. Your strategy for graphing will influence the program’s design and will assist you in decision making about your students’ progress.
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