An Estimation of Trend Variability and Change Sensitivity of Direct Behavior Rating–Single Item Scales

Direct behavior ratings (DBR) refer to a family of assessments that educators use to measure behavioral change. To facilitate interpretations of changes in student behavior, it is beneficial to measure rates of change over pre-determined spans of time. This pilot study estimated the score change variability and the change sensitivity of the DBR-Single Item Scales (DBR-SIS) for academic engagement and disruptive behavior in typical U.S. educational settings. A series of multivariate multilevel models (MMLMs) were fitted to an extant dataset of progress-monitoring observations for students identified with academic behavior and social behavior risk in grades 1 through 5. Rates of change in both academic engagement and disruptive behavior exhibited considerable between-student variability after 3–4 weeks of progress monitoring. Academic engagement was slightly more sensitive to capturing between-student differences in rates of change. Considerations for selecting certain single-item scales are discussed in addition to the utility of interpreting score change for decision-making purposes.