Progress monitoring for behavior goals

Behavior goals are harder to monitor than academic goals for one reason: behavior varies from day to day far more than a reading score does. A student who calls out 6 times on Monday can call out 19 times on Thursday after a bad bus ride. Monitoring has to absorb that noise, so the plan needs more observations, a fixed window and a clear rule for what counts as a change.

This guide follows one fictional student from definition to the first progress report, with a filled-in frequency data sheet. For choosing between frequency and duration in the first place, see frequency vs duration recording. For the monitoring cycle across all goal types, see the IEP progress monitoring pillar.

What you need before you start

• A behavior goal with a number, such as "3 or fewer call-outs per 30-minute math block." Goal wording for common targets is in the classroom expectations goals and the wider set of behavior IEP goals.
• An operational definition two adults would score the same way. The operational definition examples show how to write one.
• A method that matches the behavior. Countable, short events use frequency recording. Long or uneven events use duration recording. Behavior that is hard to count, such as engagement, often uses interval recording.
• A data sheet kept where the behavior happens, such as a clipboard at the teacher's table or a sheet taped inside a folder.

Step by step

Step 1: Pick one observation window

Choose a recurring period when the behavior is most likely and when an adult can watch: for example, the 30-minute math block from 10:00 to 10:30. Use the same window every time. Data from math on Monday and from recess on Thursday cannot sit on one graph line.

Step 2: Take 5 baseline observations

Academic baselines often use 3 probes. For behavior, take 5 on different days, because one calm day or one hard day can set a misleading starting point. Report the median and the range. A baseline of 15 (range 11 to 18) tells the team much more than "about 15."

Step 3: Set the probe schedule

Behavior goals need more points than a weekly academic probe gives. Plan at least 2 or 3 observations a week in the window, and daily if the behavior is serious or the plan is new. More points per week let you use the weekly median, which smooths out single bad days.

Step 4: Convert counts to a rate when windows change

If an observation is cut short by an assembly, a 20-minute count and a 30-minute count are not the same thing. Divide the count by the minutes observed and multiply by 60 to get a rate per hour. Record the minutes on every row so anyone can redo the math.

Step 5: Graph the weekly median against a downward aimline

For behavior you want to reduce, the aimline slopes down from the baseline to the target. Plot each observation as a small dot and each week's median as a larger point. Decide on the weekly medians, not single days.

Step 6: Apply a decision rule and write it down

Agree on the rule before the data come in. A common choice for behavior: change the plan when 3 weekly medians in a row sit above the aimline, and consider fading support when 3 in a row sit at or below the target. Write the date and the decision on the graph.

Step 7: Track the replacement behavior too

A drop in call-outs means more when hand raises go up. If the plan teaches a replacement behavior, count it in the same window on the same sheet. The replacement behavior goal templates show how to write that goal.

The frequency data sheet, filled in

The frequency data sheet has one row per observation. Here is Kai's first week after baseline, as it would look on paper. Kai and all numbers are fictional.

Wednesday's raw count of 9 looks like a good day, but over only 20 minutes it is a rate of 27 per hour, the worst of the week. That is why the minutes column exists. The weekly median rate is 22 per hour, or 11 per 30-minute block.

Worked example: Kai's call-outs, September to November

Kai is a fictional grade 2 student who calls out answers and comments during math.

Definition. A call-out is any word or sound directed at the teacher or class without a raised hand and without being called on, separated from the next by at least 3 seconds of quiet.

Baseline (September 22 to 30). Five 30-minute observations: 14, 18, 11, 16 and 15 call-outs. Median 15 per block, or 30 per hour. Range 11 to 18.

Goal. By the end of January, during a 30-minute whole-group math lesson, Kai will call out 3 or fewer times per block on 4 of 5 observed days, measured by frequency count 3 times a week.

Aimline. From 15 per block in week 0 to 3 per block at week 16. That is a drop of 12 over 16 weeks, or 0.75 call-outs per block per week.

Weekly medians (per 30-minute block):

Week 4 decision. Weeks 2, 3 and 4 all sit above the aimline, which meets the rule. The good first week did not last. The team checks the hand-raise data: raises rose in week 1 and then fell back. Kai was getting called on less often once the novelty wore off. The plan changes: the teacher calls on Kai within 1 minute of every raised hand for the first 10 minutes, and Kai earns a check on his card for each raise.

Weeks 5 to 8. Medians fall to 9, 8, 7 and 6, all below the aimline. Hand raises climb to a median of 9 per block.

November progress report. "Kai's call-outs during math dropped from a baseline median of 15 to 6 per 30-minute block, below the line he needs to reach 3 by January. After a plan change in week 4, he raises his hand a median of 9 times per lesson. Data are taken 3 times a week."

Notice what made the week 4 decision possible: 3 observations a week, a fixed window and a replacement behavior counted on the same sheet. With one observation a week, the team would have had 4 points and no way to tell a trend from noise.

Common mistakes

• Weak: "Kai had a better week." Better: "Median 9 call-outs per 30-minute block this week, down from 13."
• Weak: observing in whatever period is convenient that day. Better: one fixed window, with any change written in the notes column.
• Weak: comparing raw counts from a 20-minute and a 30-minute observation. Better: rate per hour, with minutes observed on every row.
• Weak: one observation a week for a behavior that varies a lot. Better: 2 or 3 a week, deciding on the weekly median.
• Weak: tracking only the behavior to reduce. Better: count the replacement behavior in the same window.
• Weak: changing the plan after one bad day. Better: a written rule, such as 3 weekly medians above the aimline.
• Weak: "Kai is doing well behaviorally" in the report. Better: the goal's own number, the baseline, the trend and the date of any plan change.

Where behavior monitoring fits

Teams that use positive behavior supports rely on data to decide when a plan is working, and the Center on PBIS describes data-based decisions as a core feature of its framework.^[1] The What Works Clearinghouse practice guide on classroom behavior recommends identifying the specifics of a problem behavior and the conditions that prompt and reinforce it before changing the plan.^[2] The monitoring routine above supplies that information week by week.

If the student has a behavior intervention plan, the monitoring graph is the plan's report card. See the BIP examples for how goals and data connect to the plan. For more goal wording, the behavior IEP goal examples list measurable targets with methods. The National Center on Intensive Intervention's progress monitoring guidance covers decision rules that apply to behavior as well as academics.^[3]

Frequently asked questions

Use it in IEP Atlas

• Behavior IEP goals
• Classroom expectations goals (behavior)
• Frequency data sheet
• Frequency recording measurement guide
• Progress monitoring in the IEP glossary
• Measurement methods

Related guides

• IEP progress monitoring: how to track, graph and report goal progress
• IEP progress monitoring examples by goal type
• Reading progress monitoring tools
• How many data points are enough?
• IEP progress report comments for behavior goals

Sources

1. Center on PBIS, Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
2. Reducing Behavior Problems in the Elementary School Classroom, What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences
3. Progress Monitoring: Data & Goal Setting, National Center on Intensive Intervention

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.