Systematic Observations

Must a reevaluation address each component of the Minnesota criteria for the student’s disability area, including observations?

No. When a district conducts a reevaluation of a student, the student’s IEP team must review existing evaluation data and input from the student’s parent(s) to identify what additional data, if any, is needed to determine whether the student continues to have the identified disability and whether the student continues to need special education and related services. The reevaluation must also determine the student’s present levels of academic achievement and related developmental needs, and determine whether any additions or modifications to the special education and related services are needed to enable the student to meet the measurable annual goals set out in the IEP and to participate, as appropriate, in the general education curriculum.

In some cases additional assessments and evaluation measures (including observations) are necessary to gather the information described above, but if the existing evaluation data is sufficient, the IEP team may determine that additional assessments are unnecessary.

Authority: 34 C.F.R. § 300.305(a).

• Date, time, and name/title of the observer

• Activity and setting (context)

• Description of pertinent behaviors 

• Provide direct information about specific behaviors as they occur in a given context

• Comment about whether or not this is typical behavior for the student 

• Time chosen should be relevant to the student’s concerns.

Other Helpful Tips and Considerations: 

It is important that when looking at specific student behaviors (maladaptive and appropriate) the observer clearly defines the behavior. Data collection methods like partial interval recording, momentary time sampling, and PLACHECK (additional information for these tools can be found by clicking HERE and finding the section titled "Observation Forms." These tools will provide the observer with objective data that can be represented in a chart, percentage, etc. It is also important to include a description of activities and other behavioral or academic performance. When possible include as many objective data collection tools as possible while completing a systematic observation. 

An example may look something like this: 

Tom was observed during reading, 5th period, on 2/26/25 by Tom Hanks. The observation started promptly at 1:05 and was terminated at 1:35. This is the second 30-minute observation completed during the evaluation window. Tom's performance was monitored through both the completion of a momentary sampling procedure (PLACHECK) as well as permanent products (worksheet completion). The momentary time sampling procedure (PLACHECK) focused on recording whether or not Tom was on or off task at the end of a given interval and comparing his behavior to 3 randomly selected peers (see data below). Tom was observed following directions to work and transition to different activities. He engaged in 3 separate occurrences of making inappropriate comments as currently defined in his BSP. Tom and his classmates were instructed to complete a writing sample based on the movie Holes the class watched last week as part of their current literary lesson. Tom completed the assignment, his teacher indicated to the observer that it was of high quality. 

5-minute momentary time sample (x indicates on-task was observed, - indicates off-task was observed)

Interval              1:10  1:15   1:20   1:25   1:30   1:35         % on-task

Tom x     x         --          --       x         --                   50%          

Peer 1                     x     x         x          x       --         x                    83%

Peer 2                    x       x        x          x        x         x                   100%

Peer 3                    --       --       x          x        x         x                     67%

Data collected from the observation would indicate that Tom is generally engaging in more off-task behavior than his peers.