Graphing Student Academic Data for Universal Screening and

Graphing Student Academic Data

for Universal Screening and

Progress Monitoring

BY JAMES L. MCDOUGAL, PSYD, & MICHAEL LEBLANC, PHD, State University of New York at Oswego

JOHN HINTZE, PHD, University of Massachusetts, Amhearst

As educators incorporate response to intervention (RTI) approaches to address students at risk for academic

difficulty, measuring and charting student progress have become critical activities. Graphing student

progress data is essential to evaluating students’ response to classroom instruction in order to identify

instructional priorities and to identify students in need of additional intervention. This handout provides

school psychologists, special educators, classroom teachers, and preservice personnel with a resource to

assist with graphing academic data in the evolving RTI climate and era of accountability in education.

Given that school-based professionals may not have access to commercially available graphing software,

this handout includes recommendations for free resources to assist with graphing as well as directions for

creating graphs, trend lines, and slopes with Microsoft Excel, using a PC. (See note at the end of this handout for

Mac users.) It also presents templates for illustrating universal screeningdata and reviews additional resources.

PURPOSE OF GRAPHING STUDENT DATA

RTI approaches to service provision rely on the use of direct assessments of students’ academic skills in

order to assess all students’ response to instruction and to identify students at risk for failure. Graphs are

typically used to display this information, allowing educators to make data-based decisions regarding the

needs of entire classrooms or grade levels and to quickly identify those students in need of supplemental

services. Once at-risk students are identified and provided with supplemental instruction, their progress on

periodic assessments is graphed across time (progress monitoring).

The progress monitoring graph generally displays two key elements: (a) the student’s performance during

a given week, which can then be compared to the performance of peers, and (b) the student’s rate of progress

(e.g., weekly increases in academic scores). On the graph, each data point represents the student’s score on a

brief academic fluency assessment. In addition, a trend line (the visual representation of progress) and slope

of progress (a numeric value indicating the weekly rate of growth) are typically included to evaluate the

student’s rate of response to the implemented intervention. In an RTI framework, graphing student progress

data and creating a trend line/slope are keys to evaluating student response to intervention, revising specific

goals, and deciding when to implement an instructional change or refer to a more intense level of service.

GRAPHING UNIVERSAL SCREENING DATA

The purpose of universal screening (Tier 1 in an RTI model) is to obtain data about all students in order to

assess the effectiveness of the core curriculum and to determine which students may be at risk and in

need of additional intervention. One example of a research-based screening procedure is Dynamic

Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Kaminski & Good, 1996), perhaps the most widely used

assessment for conducting universal academic screening, specifically literacy. DIBELS monitors the

development of preliteracy and early literacy skills with brief, repeatable fluency assessments.

To assist schools in illustrating and evaluating these universal data, DIBELS scoring templates were

developed at the State University of New York at Oswego. Graphing templates are Microsoft Excel

spreadsheets designed to perform prearranged functions, in this case to display DIBELS results. DIBELS

scoring templates are available for Grades K–6 and include columns for input of student names and scores

from appropriate DIBELS tasks according to grade level. Table 1 is an illustration of a template displaying the

data from a kindergarten benchmark assessment.

Helping Children at Home and School III

S3H15–1

Graphing Proficiency Ranges for Individual Students

The templates can be accessed at http://www.schooltoolz.

us. Click on ‘‘Graphing,’’ then on ‘‘DIBELS Scoring

Templates.’’ To use these templates, download the desired

grade level, save to your computer, and read the instructions

(available by clicking on the ‘‘Instructions’’ tab at the bottom

of the spreadsheet). As specified, the gray area is for the

input of student names and scores (delete contrived data

first but do not alter cells outside of the shaded area, as these

contain important formulas). When student scores are

added, descriptive ranges automatically appear in sub-

sequent columns arranged by DIBELS task for each student.

As illustrated by Table 1, educators can easily identify and

highlight at-risk students requiring intervention based on

deficit range scores on one or more tasks.

Using Graphs to Determine Instructional Priorities

In addition to displaying proficiency ranges by individual

student, the templates also include graphs and tables

illustrating the percent and frequency of students in each

proficiency level (e.g., deficient, emerging, established)

for each task. This is helpful when assigning instructional

priorities for the classroom and evaluating overall

response to classroom instruction. With each template,

four sheets are provided: (a) for beginning of the year

Figure 1. A graph from the DIBELS scoring template.

Note. Oral reading fluency (ORF) is a subtest of DIBELS. The

figure represents ORF data from one second-grade classroom

from the beginning (beg), middle (mid), and end of the year

(end) assessments.

Table 1. DIBELS Universal Screening Data for Kindergarten Students

Note: Initial Sound Fluency (ISF), Letter Naming Fluency (LNF), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF), and Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)

are kindergarten preliteracy assessments on the DIBELS. ‘‘Descriptor’’ refers to the performance ranges based on DIBELS benchmarks.

S3H15–2

Graphing Student Academic Data for Universal Screening and Progress Monitoring

data, (b) for midyear data, (c) for end of the year data,

and (d) a results page which, when printed, will generate

a four-page comparative report illustrating results from

across the school year.

Example: Second-Grade DIBELS Performance

Figure 1 and Table 2 illustrate in graphic and table

format the overall second-grade DIBELS performance for

one school across the academic year. It would appear

from this information that one instructional priority for

this class might address increasing reading fluency,

because 68% of students scored in the deficient range

during the first assessment.

Based on these data, it also appears that, while the

number and percent of students reaching established

ranges of performance increased across the school year

(e.g., from 6.15 to 46.55%), the end goal of having

roughly 80% of students at established levels of reading

fluency was not achieved. This might suggest the need

for revisions in the curriculum or instructional practices

prior to the next school year.

GRAPHING PROGRESS MONITORING DATA

At the heart of the RTI model is monitoring student

progress to inform instructional practices. Graphs of

these data are invaluable in determining which students

benefit from instruction and which students need

instructional or curricular modifications. As previously

noted, progress monitoring graphs should include a trend

line and slope of progress to evaluate the student’s rate

of response to the implemented intervention. These

functions are fairly easy to perform in Microsoft Excel,

although some basic knowledge of the Excel program is

required. For more detailed directions on graphing, go to

http://www.schooltoolz.us; in the Graphing section, click

on the ‘‘Tricking out Your Graphs’’ link.

Set Up the Spreadsheet

To get started, open an Excel spreadsheet and label the

first cell in column A ‘‘Date’’ and the first cell in column B

‘‘CRW’’ or another abbreviation for the data to be

entered. With this setup, care must be taken to format

the date column properly. To do this, highlight the cells

that will be used in that column (column A) and right-

click on them. Then select ‘‘format cells’’ and click on the

‘‘number’’ tab. Select ‘‘date’’ in the menu. This will treat

all of your data as days. On the right-hand side is a menu

for ‘‘type,’’ indicating the type of date displayed. Choose

an option that includes two spaces each for day, month,

and year (e.g., 03/14/01). Avoid those choices with an

asterisk beside them. Your setup is now complete and

Table 2. Second-Grade DIBELS Performance

Subtest Descriptor N %

Oral Reading Fluency-beg Deficit

44 67.69%

Emerging

17 26.15%

Established

4 6.15%

Oral Reading Fluency-mid Deficit

40 60.61%

Emerging

12 18.18%

Established

14 21.21%

Oral Reading Fluency-end Deficit

16 27.59%

Emerging

15 25.86%

Established

27 46.55%

Note: The table represents oral reading fluency (ORF) data from beginning (beg), middle (mid), and end of the year (end) assessments.

Figure 2. Student progress monitoring graph.

Helping Children at Home and School III

S3H15–3

you can input the assessment dates in the first column

and the student monitoring data in the second column.

Graph the Data

To graph this information, highlight the data in the two

columns by dragging your cursor over them (include the top

cells that label the data). Once they are highlighted, click on

the ‘‘chart wizard’’ (the icon on the toolbar above your

spreadsheet that looks likes a small multicolored bar graph).

Next, select the chart type, which in this case will be a line

graph. If the sample graph is correct, then select ‘‘next’’ (if

not, you may have to select ‘‘series’’ and remove ‘‘dates’’ as a

graphed series). Next, include a chart title (e.g., Johnny’s

reading progress) and label the x-axis ‘‘days’’ and the y-axis

‘‘correct read words’’ (or ‘‘data graphed’’). After including

the titles, click ‘‘finish’’ and you’ll have a graph.

Display Rate of Progress

As indicated earlier, the graph can also be used to

display the student’s rate of academic progress. This is

done by having Excel plot a trend line and compute a

slope. To display a trend line and slope, make sure that

your graph is selected (i.e., the border around it includes

little black squares at the corners and midsections, if not,

just click on the graph). On the top toolbar, click on

‘‘chart’’ and select ‘‘add trend line.’’ The default will be

‘‘linear,’’ which is what you want. Next, click on ‘‘options’’

and select ‘‘display equation on chart.’’ This will chart the

trend line and compute a daily slope.

The last step is to multiply the computed slope by

seven in order to derive a weekly slope that can be

compared to rates-of-progress estimates commonly

reported in the curriculum-based measurement literature

(e.g., Silberglitt & Hintze, 2007). Figure 2 is an

illustration of a progress monitoring graph utilizing this

procedure. The slope computed by Excel was 0.5459.

When .5 was multiplied by 7, the approximate weekly

slope was 3.5, indicating a high rate of progress.

SUMMARY

The recent emphasis on accountability and data-based

decision making in education has increased the importance

of graphing students’ academic performance and rates of

progress. This handout provides educators with information

and suggests free online resources to assist with graphing

student data. It also includes a discussion of the correct way

to display a trend line and compute a slope so that educators

can accurately assess a student’s rate of progress.

REFERENCES

Deno, S. L., Fuchs, L. S., Marston, D. B., & Shin, J. (2001).

Using curriculum-based measurement to establish

growth standards for students with learning

disabilities. School Psychology Review, 30, 507–524.

Kaminski, R. A., & Good, R. H. (1996). Toward a

technology for assessing basic early literacy skills.

School Psychology Review, 25, 215–227. See also

DIBELS website: https://dibels.uoregon.edu

Silberglitt, B., & Hintze, J. M. (2007). How much growth

can we expect? A conditional analysis of R-CBM

growth rates by level of performance. Exceptional

Children, 74, 71–84.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

These are free online resources to assist with graphing

and student progress monitoring.

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills

(DIBELS): https://dibels.uoregon.edu

The DIBELS assessment materials and benchmarks

for student progress are available as free down-

loads. DIBELS also has a progress monitoring

service that produces student graphs, which is

available for a fee.

Intervention Central: http://www.interventioncentral.org

See ‘‘Chart dog’’ under ‘‘Online tools’’ for another

graphing resource for charting academic monitor-

ing data. Look also in the ‘‘CBM Warehouse’’ for

the CBM recording form for oral reading fluency

(ORF) data. This form includes two sets of CBM

norms as well as weekly slopes/growth estimates.

National Center on Student Progress Monitoring: http://

www.studentprogress.org

See the ‘‘Library’’ for articles and research and

informative presentations on student progress mon-

itoring, graphing, goal setting, data-based decision

making, and other relevant issues.

Schooltoolz.org: http://www.schooltoolz.us

Dr. James L. McDougal’s website. Look under

‘‘graphing’’ for graphing templates covering both

academic and behavioral monitoring techniques. In

the ‘‘Tricking out your Graphs’’ section, see handy

instructions for adding phase lines and text boxes

to your graphs in addition to other tips. Also on

this webpage are the DIBELS scoring templates

discussed above.

Note for Mac users: Some Mac users may encounter difficulties

with the Excel instructions in this handout. Please contact Dr.

McDougal for templates at mcdougal@oswego.edu

James L. McDougal, PsyD, and Michael Leblanc, PhD, are on

the faculty of the State University of New York at Oswego; John

Hintze, PhD, is on the faculty of the University of

Massachusetts–Amherst.

2010 National Association of School Psychologists, 4340 East West Highway, Suite 402,

Bethesda, MD 20814—(301) 657-0270

S3H15–4

Graphing Student Academic Data for Universal Screening and Progress Monitoring