Do you ever struggle to keep all of the information you have about your students organized and accessible?  Well, I have!  To solve that problem, I created a student information binder to hold all of those important things about my kiddos.  Keep reading to find out how to set up your student information binder and what you can include in it (with free downloads!).

Setting Up Your Student Information Binder

What You Need

In order to set up your student information binder, you will need to get just a couple simple office materials. They are:

• a binder (size depends on how large your class is and how much information you expect to keep)
• numbered dividers (one for each student) – by using numbered tabs, instead of tabs labeled with student names, you can reuse the binder each year.  To keep track of student numbers, put a list of students with their numbers in the front pocket of the binder.

And that’s all you will need to set up your binder!  The rest of the content will be the student information that you add to each section.

Sections of Your Student Information Binder

**You can click on each element to download a free printable copy (if applicable).**

Whole Class Information

In front of the numbered dividers for each student, I suggest keeping some information about your whole class.  Sometimes, you need to see the big picture, not just each individual kid, and that’s why I like having this section.  For this section, I do not have a divider; I just keep it in front of the numbered tabs.  However, if you want it labeled, you could add a regular divider at the beginning of your binder.  This is what I include in the whole class section:

• Grade Book (One sheet for each subject, if applicable to your grade level AND if you like having a hard copy instead of electronic.)
• Reading Levels Chart (I like to keep track of my kids’ monthly reading levels and write them down on one document.)
• Standards Mastery Records (For each subject, I keep track of which standards each student has mastered throughout the year.  This is especially helpful if you do standards based grading, but is also useful for determining small group or individual material to cover.)
• Contact Information Sheet

Individual Student Information

Behind the whole class information, I keep my numbered dividers – one for each student.  I keep a numbered list of my students in the front pocket (because otherwise I would not remember the numbers, especially at the beginning of the year!).  As a result, I have all the important information for each kid in one spot.  This means I don’t lose it AND I know where to find it when I need it.

For each student, I have:

• Parent Questionnaire (I have parents fill this out at Open House before school starts, or send it home the first day.  This information both helps me get to know each student AND shows parents that I care about their child.)
• Screeners (e.g. phonics screeners, reading assessments, math screeners)
• Progress Monitoring (e.g. FAST, running records, etc.)
• Standardized Test Score Reports (e.g. MAP, Common Core Tests, etc.)
• IEPs, 504s, or other health information
• Any other important information

Using Your Student Information Binder

Once I have my student information binder set up, I use it to keep track of important information and to store important information about my kids.  I find it especially useful when I need to look at my class’ progress, when I need data on a specific child (like for an IEP meeting), and when I’m doing report cards.  I hope you find this organizational tool as useful as I do!

Do you have any other tips for keeping student information organized?  If so, leave a comment below or shoot me an email!