How can educators determine why students are engaging in these behaviors?
Page 6: Descriptive Assessments
In addition to gathering information from indirect assessments, FBA teams should collect real-time data to gain insight into the circumstances surrounding the target behavior. Descriptive assessments involve observing the student in the natural educational environment and systematically recording information when the target behavior occurs. Ideally, an objective person (e.g., school psychologist, another educator, behavior analyst) will conduct these observations while the teacher goes about their usual instruction. This helps ensure that the data reflect the natural environment and the ways educators and peers typically respond to the behavior.
Most often, the descriptive assessment used for an FBA is antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) data collection. When collecting ABC data, the observer records the time, location, and a brief narrative for each observed instance of the target behavior as it occurs. This narrative is divided into three sections:
For Your Information
In addition to antecedents that occur just before the behavior, observers should also make note of any known setting events that are further removed from the behavior (e.g., confrontation with an adult outside of the classroom, not sleeping well the night before).
setting event
in glossary
- Antecedents: Any situations, actions, or events that happen before the behavior, including elements of the environment (e.g., instructional configuration, subject area) and any immediate triggers (e.g., an interaction with a peer, a loud noise, a transition).
- Behavior: Any observable and measurable act that aligns with the operational definition of the student’s target behavior.
- Consequences: Any responses, actions, or events that follow the behavior (e.g., teacher reprimands, peer reactions, incomplete work).
Note: Consequences refer to any change in the environment regardless of intent. It is important to record natural consequences as well as more deliberate actions taken to address the behavior.
natural consequence
in glossary
By recording specific details of what happened before and after the behavior, FBA teams can better distinguish what tends to trigger the target behavior in the moment and what reinforces it over time. Consider the descriptive data recorded for a single instance of a target behavior:
| Setting | Antecedent | Behavior | Consequence |
| Small-group reading | The teacher says, “Evan, your turn,” to signal him to read the next page aloud. | Evan yells, “No, I don’t want to.” | Other students ask him to stop while covering their ears. The teacher says, “Evan, it’s your turn to read.” |
Each occurrence of the target behavior should be recorded in its own row of the ABC data chart. Sometimes, behavior occurs in a sequence, with the consequence of one behavior acting as the antecedent for another. In the ABC chart below, notice how the teacher’s response (i.e., consequence) to Evan’s initial behavior becomes the antecedent that triggers a second instance of the target behavior. Recording the ABCs of each incident separately helps to capture key details about how the behavior escalated.
| Setting | Antecedent | Behavior | Consequence |
| Small-group reading | The teacher says, “Evan, your turn,” to signal him to read the next page aloud. | Evan yells, “No, I don’t want to.” | Other students ask him to stop while covering their ears. The teacher says, “Evan, it’s your turn to read.” |
| Small-group reading | The teacher says, “Evan, it’s your turn to read.” | Evan continues yelling and bangs his hands on the desk. | The teacher says “Let’s skip Evan today.” and moves on to the next student. |
Although a single behavioral instance might provide clues to its function, consistent data is needed to reveal trends. For this reason, multiple observations should be conducted so that ABC data are collected across different days and contexts until one or more patterns emerge. Such patterns are easier to recognize when ABC data are both thorough and precise. For example, narratives should specify any other people involved (e.g., educators, peers) and fully describe antecedents and consequences, even if they do not seem related to the behavior at first glance. Similarly, the narrative should detail exactly what the behavior looked or sounded like for each particular occurrence. When possible, it is also helpful to describe the duration and intensity of the behavior. It is far better to err on the side of including too much detail rather than too little, while taking care to prevent assumptions or misperceptions from impacting narrative descriptions.
In this interview, Bettie Ray Butler provides some considerations for educators when collecting ABC data (time: 2:40).
Bettie Ray Butler, PhD
Professor of Urban Education
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Transcript: Bettie Ray Butler, PhD
Teachers and FBA teams should consider a few things when they are recording ABC data, the antecedent, the behavior, and the consequence. And critical self-reflection, introspection, is what I like to start with. And I know it seems out of place because we’re talking about the student’s behavior, but sometimes the antecedent behind the student’s behavior is the educator’s behavior. And so it’s always important to start with self first, to do a deep introspection of our own behaviors.
Secondly, observing classroom contexts and even desk arrangements. I know these are very simple things, but I think that they’re important when we’re talking about looking at these processes through a cultural lens because how desks are arranged could either indicate individualism or collaboration. And what they’re sitting on, and how long they’re sitting, and what is the front of the classroom versus the back of the classroom. How we design the classroom space to make it more comfortable and for it to be a space of collaboration and to encourage community I think it’s also important for FBA teams to consider. And knowing these things and being open to revising them and revising your ways of doing things, I think, will also show whether or not behaviors are more pronounced in this environment versus a separate environment.
And lastly, when you’re collecting this data, while pattern identification is critical in this process, but it’s not necessarily solely on the individual student, what is the teacher’s pattern of identifying these behaviors? What types of students are they identifying? Is there a disparity in the identification process and the subsequent consequences that immediately follow that process? Are they more punitive for certain students? Again, going back to that introspection, why do the teachers believe that this behavior exists in the first place? And then asking those very critical questions of, Is there data to support the reasoning why the teacher believes that this behavior exists? What outside of the teacher’s assumptions alone explain this behavior? Has the teacher done their due diligence and spoke with the families and spoke with the student to determine what may be happening in this situation?
Did You Know?
Behavior can be measured both qualitatively (using words) and quantitatively (using numbers). ABC data relies on qualitative notes about what happens before, during, and after an interfering behavior. Conversely, target behaviors can be measured quantitatively using systematic direct observations. Such data can take the form of:
systematic direct observation
in glossary
- Frequency recording—counting how many times the behavior happens in a given period
- Interval recording—documenting whether the behavior occurred during brief time intervals (e.g., 30 seconds)
- Duration recording—timing how long the behavior lasts
- Latency recording—documenting the time that elapses between when an instruction is provided and when the behavior begins or ends
Although systematic direct observation data can demonstrate how prevalent or severe a behavior is, they do not capture the context around the behavior (i.e., antecedents, consequences) that helps inform an understanding of its function. Therefore, qualitative ABC data are much more valuable for the purposes of an FBA. On the other hand, quantitative data from systematic direct observations are more beneficial for establishing a baseline and monitoring behavioral change once a BIP is implemented.
baseline
in glossary
Returning to the Challenge
DJ’s FBA team creates a plan for the FBA team leader (the school psychologist) to conduct regular observations and record ABC data. The video below depicts one such observation period. During the video, Johanna Staubitz records the ABCs of each instance of the target behavior, explaining each step and demonstrating how to fill out the recording form. Note: Although educators should record the time each behavior occurs, for the purposes of this video, we only focus on how to record the antecedents, behaviors, and consequences.
Transcript: Social Studies
Narrator: ABC Data Collection, DJ, Social Studies
Teacher: Alright, friends. We are going to have a quick partner chat about last night’s book chapter. I will give you all three minutes to discuss these two items on the board. We are going to name one key event, and we’re going to name two consequences of that event. Sound good?
[All students are engaging in a discussion about the book they are reading.]
[The teacher is circulating and providing behavior-specific praise to students.]
Teacher: (directed toward two students sitting at table in back of room) Nicely done, friends. Thank you for being on task.
Narrator: Three minutes later.
Teacher: I am hearing some great discussions from folks in the crowd about events and consequences! We are going to come back together and talk about how the events and consequences relate to the theme. Question: Who can tell us what theme means? Those are some good hands.
[Some students raise their hands.]
Teacher: Jaliyah, can you tell us what a theme is?
Jaliyah: Theme is the message that the author wants us to know.
Teacher: That is exactly right. Theme is the lesson or moral that the reader can learn from the story. Now, who can share some common themes from our story?
[Some students raise their hands.]
DJ: (briefly raises hand, then asks loudly) Did anyone see the game last night?
Teacher: (pauses discussion and says) DJ, we are talking about theme right now, so I’m going to ask you to stay on topic.
[DJ tosses his hands up in the air.]
Johanna: In this clip, we saw the first instance of DJ’s target behavior. He called out and he said something like “Did anybody see the game this weekend?” which of course did not correspond to the expectations for the activity, so we can write down “calling out” in the Behavior column. But we also have to ask ourselves, “Hmm, what happened right before that?” And the teacher had asked the question, Can someone identify a common theme from the reading? So we can write down “teacher question” in the Antecedent column. Finally, we think about what happened right after DJ called out and we’ll record that in the Consequences column—and that’s where the teacher redirected DJ.
[Abby’s hand remains raised.]
Teacher: I see Abby’s hand. Can you share another theme you see in this book?
[DJ puts his head on his hand.]
Abby: Freedom.
Teacher: Abby, nicely done. Freedom is another theme we see in this book. Can anyone share another example?
[Some students raise their hands.]
Teacher: I’ve got hands. I’m going to go with Aailyah. Can you share another theme?
Aailyah: Courage.
Teacher: Yes, Aailyah, nicely done. Courage is a theme we see.
Johanna: In this clip, we see DJ looking off into the distance and maybe even rolling his eyes. And, honestly, our definition isn’t quite tight enough for us to rule that in or out. Sometimes if you’re not sure, that may qualify as engaging in a behavior that’s not consistent with the given expectation, then it’s a good idea to include it because you can always leave it out later if it doesn’t fit the same pattern as everything else. But you never have a perfect operational definition, so sometimes you have to make that subjective call. And sometimes when you do that, it can be a good cue to you to revisit the definition and maybe tighten it up a little bit, add some examples or non-examples in collaboration with the rest of the team. But for now, we can write “looking off or rolling eyes” in the Behavior column. Then we ask ourselves, What was the antecedent? And that was “teacher praised a peer.” Write that in the Antecedent column. And then we write the consequence we observed—what followed the behavior—and nothing really changed. The teacher simply continued instruction.
Teacher: I would like for y’all to go back to your partner discussions and we are going to see if we can identify the theme that’s tied to the key event and a consequence from this chapter. Good?
[DJ starts flipping through pages in his book and notebook.]
[The teacher circulates the room.]
[All students are discussing among themselves.]
Johanna: Here we saw DJ playing with his materials, which is what we’ll write in the Behavior column. In the Antecedent column, we can record that the teacher gave an instruction for the students to begin group work. In the Consequence column, we would simply record that the students continued to make that transition to group work because nothing really changed in the environment immediately following DJ’s time with materials.
DJ: (leans over and whispers to Student B) Dude, did you see that touchdown pass last night?
Student B: Yeah, it was sick.
[The teacher walks over to DJ and Student B.]
Teacher: Please discuss the common themes from this chapter.
Johanna: In this clip, DJ talks to his peer—asks him a question—so we can write that in the Behavior column. Right before that, the group had started to begin working, so we can just record “began group work.” And then the consequence was the peer responded to the question. In addition, the teacher came by and redirected DJ.
DJ: (whispers to Student B) The offense was crazy.
Student B: Yeah. Shh, be quiet, we don’t want to get in trouble.
[DJ stops whispering and opens his book.]
Johanna: In this next clip, the antecedent is actually the consequence of the previous behavior—that peer response and teacher redirect—so we can simply draw an arrow from that previous consequence to the antecedent space in this row. And what we see DJ do is talk to his peer again. He makes a comment about the offense. And so we can just write “talking to peer” here in the Behavior row. Then the consequence was the peer responded, but it was a little different this time. The peer said, “Shh! We don’t want to get in trouble.”
Teacher: Alright, friends, now that we have had some time to discuss the themes, please use your notebook to write a short response to the question we have up on the board: In your opinion, what is the theme of this story? Give at least one example where this theme shows up. Sound good?
[All students open their notebooks. Some begin writing. Some refer to their books.]
[The teacher begins circulating the classroom.]
DJ: (whispers to Students B, C, and D) Psst, guys! Why did the coach go to the bank? To get his quarterback!
[Students B, C, and D laugh.]
Student C: Do you know how, you know how the quarterback hit the Griddy?
[Students B and D and DJ laugh.]
Student B: And that one time when he accidentally like hit the coach.
[Students C and D and DJ laugh.]
Student D: It was hilarious. I loved it.
Johanna: In this last clip, DJ is talking to his peers and even tells a joke. And what had happened right before that was that the teacher gave an instruction about a written assignment. Write that in the Antecedent column. And what followed the joke was not only one peer responding but everybody at the table is laughing and talking together. So that’s what we’d want to record in the Consequence column.
Johanna: So now that we have this ABC data recorded, we can look at it and notice any patterns that emerge. And what we can see pretty clearly is that DJ’s behavior was more often than not followed by attention, sometimes from the teacher, but very often from peers. And that included some really high-quality attention. So we still need to look at other samples of ABC data and other sources of data, like interviews and direct observations, and triangulate all of that. But this observation right here suggests that an attention function is really worth considering.
Activity
Now, let’s practice. First, review Presley’s target behavior.
Target behavior: Presley initiates forceful physical contact with another person’s body.
Examples
- Presley pushes a peer out of her way.
- Presley hits a teacher on the back.
- Presley kicks a peer’s shin.
Non-Examples
- Presley clenches her fists.
- Presley kicks at a backpack on the floor.
- Presley bumps into a peer in a crowded hallway.
View the videos below to observe Presley’s behavior during two separate observational periods, in the library and in the hallway. As you review the videos, record each instance of Presley’s target behavior in the tables below.
Transcript: Library
Narration: ABC Data Collection: Presley – Library
[Presley sits at a library table by herself, flipping through a book.]
[Two students select books from a back table. They walk to the table with Presley.]
Student A: I love books!
Carter: Me too.
[Carter sits down. Student A remains standing.]
Student A: Hey, Presley! What are you reading?
[Presley shoves Student A’s arm.]
Student A: Ouch, Presley! That hurt. Come on, Carter, let’s go sit somewhere else.
[Carter gets up. Student A and Carter move to a table in the back of the library.]
[Presley continues reading her book by herself at the table.]
Transcript: Hallway
Narration: ABC Data Collection: Presley – Hallway
[All students standing in line in the hallway with Presley at the front.]
Teacher: I hope everyone had fun in library. It sounds like you read some great books. I really appreciate the way everyone is lined up and being quiet.
[Student behind Presley takes a step closer to her.]
[Presley turns and pushes the student’s arm.]
Student: Presley pushed me!
Teacher: Presley, we don’t push. Please move to the other side of the hallway.
[Presley pushes the student again before moving to the other side of the hallway.]
Student: Presley pushed me again!
Teacher: Ms. Davis, can you please walk Presley to the principal’s office?
Paraeducator: Yes. Let’s go, Miss Presley.
[Paraeducator and Presley begin walking down the hallway.]
Teacher: Thank you.
Note: Although you would typically record the time each behavior occurs, for the purposes of this activity, simply focus on recording the antecedents, behaviors, and consequences. As with any recording form, you might not use every row in the tables. These fields are provided for practice purposes only; your answers will not be available for downloading or printing.
Setting: Library
| Antecedent | Behavior | Consequence |
Setting: Hallway
| Antecedent | Behavior | Consequence |
Setting: Library
| Antecedent | Behavior | Consequence |
| A student leans over to Presley and asks, “Hey, Presley! What are you reading?” | Presley shoves the student’s arm. | The student says, “Ouch, Presley! That hurt. Come on, Carter, let’s go sit somewhere else.” The student and Carter leave Presley’s table and move to a different table. |
Setting: Hallway
| Antecedent | Behavior | Consequence |
| Students are in line in the hallway, and the student behind Presley takes a step closer to her. | Presley turns and pushes the student’s arm. | The student turns to teacher and says, “Presley pushed me!” The teacher reminds Presley not to push and asks her to move to the other side of the hallway. |
| The teacher reminds Presley not to push and asks her to move to the other side of the hallway. | On her way to the other side of the hallway, Presley pushes the student’s arm again. | The teacher asks the paraeducator to walk Presley to the principal’s office. |
For additional information about content discussed on this page, view the following IRIS resources. Please note that these resources are not required readings to complete this module. Links to these resources can be found in the Additional Resources tab on the References, Additional Resources, and Credits page.
Behavioral Intervention Plans (Elementary): Developing a Plan to Address Student Behavior (page 8) This module explores the steps for developing a behavioral intervention plan. It includes identifying appropriate behaviors to replace the interfering behavior, selecting and implementing interventions that address the function of the behavior, monitoring students’ responses to the interventions, and making adjustments based on the data. Page 8 provides more information on systematic direct observation (est. completion time: 2 hours).
Measuring Behavior This Case Study Unit provides information on how to collect observational data on student behavior. Methods introduced include event, interval, duration, and latency recording. |
