Student behavior is best judged on three criteria: (1) Immediacy of change when the intervention is introduced; (2) the trend or direction of the change; and (3) the stability of the change. A strong intervention will ideally produce an immediate change in behavior if the behavior is a performance deficit and not a skill deficit. A skill deficit (teaching a new skill is required for some behavior change) may take more than one lesson to learn and overcome. Trend refers to the pattern of ratings that are obtained; ratings can result in an upward slope or a downward slope. The level of this change (steep or gradual) tells you about student improvement and can be used to estimate long-term change and goal attainment. Stability or consistency in student response is important to evaluate as well. Students with social, emotional and behavioral problems are noted for their changes in daily behavior. Consistent responding with slow improvement can oftentimes be better than responses that result in wide behavioral swings (which might indicate that other contingencies in the environment are influencing student response).
