You are going to be collecting massive amounts of information over a period of several weeks or months. This is in addition to your regular teaching duties and responsibilities to all of your students. Unfortunately the world doesn't stop just because it's assessment season. With this in mind, it is extremely important to approach this process in as organized a manner as possible.

Here is what I do:

Each day I look at the activity/lesson plans for all the students. I match up assessment indicators with activities and determine which I'm going to take data on that day. This information is written on a marker board so everyone can see it.

Throughout the day I take the actual data in data notebooks (one per student). Data is dated, the activity and supports described, and indicators noted.

At some point in the day I sit down and create or complete data sheets on the computer. I could use the pages from the notebooks, and sometimes I do, but I really prefer the portfolios to look neater than that. In addition, transferring the information onto the computer allows me to consolidate information and remove extraneous or unnecessary notes (which are often present when paras take the data). In addition, this provides a redundancy system as the data is saved in more than one format in more than one place. If something gets lost or damaged it is easily replaced.

After doing data sheets, I typically fill out evidence labels right away. Doing this as soon as possible keeps me from forgetting the details of the activity.  Another solution would be to print out the evidence labels in advance, hand write the information and either use that or retype it when ready, although that seems like an awful waste of paper and ink.

The evidence labels are then paperclipped to the data sheet if I use one. The data sheet will later be copied so there is is one for each evidence label. This collection then goes into the appropriate folder. Note that the data table included on the evidence label is extremely easy to use and very handy. It can easily be adapted to meet the needs for other forms of data than +/- such as a rubric. Then I simply print the number of copies I need, adjusting the indicator as needed.

I also keep a running list of activities and indicators completed so I know where I need more data.

When I'm ready to organize portfolios I gather everything together and camp out next to the copy machine. I make the needed number of copies of each data sheet and sort them with the evidence labels. These are then sorted by content area and indicator. I often end up with more pieces of evidence than I need for some indicators so I then decide which of these to use and which to discard. I then double check all the evidence I 've gathered looking for missing pieces.

I decide what order to put the evidence in, usually by date, and number both the label and data sheet accordingly (with both number 1, 2, or 3 and the date of the data). Everything is then hole punched and placed in order in the folders.

This process is both time and space consuming. I estimate each indicator takes a minimum of one hour to organize once the data has been collected. That's 5 hours per assessment, folks. This really adds up when you give more than one. Two years ago I gave 15 assessments for a total of 75 estimated hours to organize it all. There are teachers who give even more than that. This is time I am not spending with students, tending to other classroom duties, or taking care of personal and family responsibiltiies. Don't say I didn't warn you. NOTE: Last year the process was much easier, between simplifying the data process and using the new forms I probably cut the time spent preparing portfolios in half. That's still a lot of time away from teaching, though.

Other organizational ideas, hints, and tips: