I stepped outside of my comfort zone this week and created a new, customized form to get some “big picture,” qualitative data on a student. I really like clean, unambiguous data, but even I know that qualitative (descriptive) data has its place. I’ve written before about the way the pendulum in education tends to swing between extremes, and how right now, there is a push to make special education more “scientific.” I’ve also written before about the need to combine both quantitative and qualitative data in order to get an accurate picture of the whole student.

I based my new data sheet on Burron and Curtis’s 5-Point Scale, adapting my form to reflect the specific cycle of dysregulation we’ve been observing in this student. Using this form hourly in conjunction with other data collection tools that are quantitative (tracking minutes of inappropriate and appropriate engagement, another form you can find at the link above) creates a nuanced picture of the student that any teacher can quickly assess, even as he/she works with other kids.