The term 'data-based decision-making' has become pervasive in education, referring to the use of data to inform and assist decision-making at all levels of schooling including the classroom. Regrettably, calls for data-based decision making rarely come with guidance or training on how to collect and use academic and behavioral data for individual students or a whole class. This webinar addresses that gap. You'll get an overview of data-based decision making and learn a four-step process to quickly and easily collect, graph, and use behavior data for decision making and instruction. In addition, you'll see how to use basic Microsoft Excel functionality to create graphs for displaying data. This presentation is helpful for both general and special education teachers working in all grade-levels. The content may also be applicable to pre-service teachers, paraprofessionals, and school psychologists. You do not need prior experience or knowledge about data collection systems to benefit from this program. After this webinar, you will be able to: 

1) Identify and define an observable and measurable academic outcome or behavior. 

2) Develop a simple data collection system for your classroom to measure the target outcome or behavior. 

3) Create a simple graphic display of your data. 

4) Use data to improve your instruction. 

Presented by Nicholas A. Gage, Ph.D., University of Florida, Gainesville & Ashley S. MacSuga-Gage, Ph.D., University of Florida, Gainesville
60 minutes