COS Form and Documenting Evidence
COS Form
Before completing the form, the COS team members should have already:
- Built the COS team
- Gathered and age anchored information about the child's functioning
- Conducted a high-quality ratings discussion and reached consensus on a rating consistent with the COS Definitions: 7-Point Rating Scale Criteria
The COS Form is not an assessment tool. It is a mechanism to document rating decisions and provide evidence that supports the rating from multiple sources (including one or more assessment tools).
Completing the Form
For each outcome:
Record a Rating: Record the 1–7 rating the COS team reached consensus upon during the COS ratings discussion.
Name Your Sources: Indicate the sources of evidence (for example, a parent, speech therapist, teacher, or specific assessment).
Age Anchor Functioning: Identify the specific functional skills the child uses in everyday settings and situations, and the consistency with which they are observed. Focus on the child's current level of functioning rather than how much progress the child has made. Record examples of the child's skills that are age-expected (AE), immediate foundational (IF), and foundational (F). The evidence provided for the rating should be consistent with the COS Definitions: 7-Point Rating Scale Criteria. If all evidence is of age-expected functioning, note any concerns the team has about the child's development.
Record Progress: If this is an interim or exit rating, indicate if the child has made any progress since entry—not since the last rating. In this context, "any progress" is defined as whether the child has acquired at least one new skill or behavior related to the outcome. Describe the nature of any progress made. Because age expectations change along with the child's age, a child can still make progress, even if their rating is the same or lower than at entry.
State Alterations to the COS Form
While these materials are copyrighted, states and programs can use and reproduce COS materials without charge.
When states integrate the COS process and materials into their data system, adaptations to the form might be needed. To discuss any changes your state is making, contact ECTA Center's Child Outcomes Measurement topic specialist so that we can advise you about the implications of your changes.
Make alterations carefully: Minor changes to format are not likely to impact the type of data that will result, but more substantial changes—for example, using a 5-point rating scale instead of a 7-point rating scale, or altering the COS Definitions: 7-Point Rating Scale Criteria—will make it more difficult to align results to OSEP reporting categories.
Effective Documentation of COS Ratings
Effective Documentation
- Identifies functional skills the child uses, and how consistently across everyday settings and situations.
- Describes the presence and absence of age-anchored (AE, IF, F) skills consistent with the rating.
- Focuses on the child's current functioning, not how much progress the child has made.
- Identifies information and sources contributing to the rating for each outcome.
Effective Documentation of COS Ratings — Online Edition
Overall Age-Expected Functioning
7
- Provides examples of the child's age-expected (AE) functioning.
- Indicates COS team members have "no concerns."
- Evidence includes only age-expected (AE) functioning, and no immediate foundational (IF) or foundational (F) functioning.
6
- Provides examples of the child's age-expected (AE) functioning.
- Indicates COS team members have concerns and what those concerns are.
- Evidence includes only age-expected (AE) functioning, and no immediate foundational (IF) or foundational (F) functioning.
Some Age-Expected Functioning
5
- Provides examples of the child's age-expected (AE) and not age-expected (IF, F) functioning.
- Evidence includes more functioning that is age-expected (AE) than not (IF, F).
4
- Provides examples of the child's age-expected (AE) and not age-expected (IF, F) functioning.
- Evidence includes more functioning that is not age-expected (IF, F) than is (AE).
Not Yet Age-Expected Functioning
3
- Provides examples of the child's immediate foundational (IF) functioning, and if present, foundational (F) functioning.
- Evidence includes more immediate foundational (IF) than foundational functioning (F), or only immediate foundational (IF) functioning. Evidence includes no age-expected (AE) functioning.
2
- Provides examples of the child's immediate foundational (IF) and foundational (F) functioning.
- Evidence includes more foundational (F) than immediate foundational (IF) functioning, and no age-expected (AE) functioning.
1
- Provides examples of the child's foundational (F) functioning.
- Evidence includes only foundational (F) functioning, and no immediate foundational (IF) or age-expected (AE) functioning.