Introduction Page 3
Classroom Behavior Report Card Resource Book www.interventioncentral.org
student is to monitor and show the student how to complete the behavior report card. Since it is important that
the student learn the teacher's behavioral expectations, the instructor should meet with the student daily, ask the
student to rate their own behaviors, and then share with the student the teacher's ratings of those same
behaviors. The teacher and student can use this time to discuss any discrepancies in rating between their two
forms. (If report card ratings points are to be applied toward a student reward program, the teacher might
consider allowing points earned on a particular card item to count toward a reward only if the student's ratings
fall within a point of the teacher's, to encourage the student to be accurate in their ratings.) NOTE: Student
cards differ from teacher cards in that some of the student items have been slightly reworded so that young
readers can more readily understand them. Student cards at the Primary level also have a simplified, 3-item
response format with 'smiley faces' that students in earlier grades will find easy to complete.
Completing a Teacher Behavior Report Card. Behavior Report Cards can be good sources of teacher information
about student behaviors. However, most of the behavioral goals contained in this manual's Report Cards are general
in focus. When a teacher's ratings on Report Cards are based solely on subjective opinions, though, there is a danger
that the teacher will apply inconsistent standards each day when rating student behaviors. This inconsistency in
assessment can quickly undermine the usefulness of report card data. One suggestions that teachers can follow to
make it more likely that their report card ratings are consistent and objective over time is to come up with specific
guidelines for rating each behavioral goal. For example, one item in the Verbal Behaviors I Teacher Report Card
states that "The student spoke respectfully and complied with adult requests without argument or complaint." It is up
to the teacher to decide how to translate so general a goal into a rubric of specific, observable criteria that permits the
teacher to rate the student on this item according to a 9-point scale. In developing such criteria, the instructor will
want to consider:
ltaking into account student developmental considerations. For example, "Without argument or complaint"
may mean "without throwing a tantrum" for a kindergarten student but mean "without loud, defiant talking-
back" for a student in middle school.
ltying Report Card ratings to classroom behavioral norms. For each behavioral goal, the teacher may want to
think of what the typical classroom norm is for this behavior and assign to the classroom norm a specific
number rating. The teacher may decide, for instance, that the target student will earn a rating of 7
('Usually/Always') each day that the student's compliance with adult requests closely matches that of the
'average' child in the classroom.
ldeveloping numerical criteria when appropriate. For some items, the teacher may be able to translate certain
more general Report Card goals into specific numeric ratings. An item on the School Work-Related Behaviors
Teacher Report Card, for example, indicates as a goal that "The student was prepared for class, with all
necessary school materials (e.g., books, pencils, papers). " The teacher may decide that the student is eligible to
earn a rating of 7 or higher on this item on days during which instructional staff had to approach the student
about lack of preparation no more than once.
Charting Report Card Ratings. Teacher Report Card ratings can be charted over time to provide a visual display of
the student's progress toward behavioral goals. Each Report Card series in this manual has its own chart, which
permits the teacher to graph student behavior across up to 4 school weeks.
Figure 4: Behavior Report Card Chart Example
As Figure 4 illustrates, the instructor simply fills in the bubble each day that matches the numerical rating that they