Organization of Quantitative Data

Quantitative data is typically organized by counting instances or events and displaying the results by class, grade level, and school. The results can be displayed in "charts with numbers and percentages; in simple frequency tables; or in tables showing the mean, median, and range," notes Calhoun (1994, p. 71). An example of a table shows how data is arranged for easy comparison of information.

Information on a specific population within the school can be organized in two ways: by disaggregation or by subgroups. To organize by disaggregation, educators can consider existing data sources (such as student grades, referrals, and standardized test results). This data is organized to determine if there are group differences among learners in a school, such as differences in success rates related to gender (Calhoun, 1994).

To organize by subgroups, educators can consider data from conventional sources (such as reading logs), look at the performance of the population as a whole, and then look at subgroups. This approach can help identify problems and generate questions that need to be answered in order to create a clear picture of what is occurring within a reading program (Calhoun, 1994).

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