I am asking this on the behalf of my sibling who is a general education teacher. She has a student who is very aggressive, mercurial, and is completely unable to keep up with the rest of the class. So, the student has been observed and data is being collected.

Here's the thing: this started at the beginning of last school year. Yes, it's been a year and a half of data collection. The kid clearly needs more help than the standard classroom, but the district keeps saying "we'll see, try this intervention and we'll check back". Parents are frustrated (but are also hesitant of going further) and the teachers are frustrated and a classmate gets punched/kicked every week, practically.

I feel like this is going beyond the mark of data collection at this point.

Data collection is generally done as part of an evaluation.  On average, evals take 60 days - depends on state regs.  With the written evaluation in hand, the team meets and decides on support for the student (or not if they don't meet criteria to get help).  Special ed level data collection would require parent permission.

Is the data collection & intervention trials part of RTI/MTSS where there are no timelines for placing support in place?  RTI & MTSS are part of general ed intervention where data collection & support trials would not need parent permission.

If I was the parent, I'd be asking for a copy of the observation results report as well as requesting a team meeting to see what the next step can be.  The school should have a 'child study team' of some sort that works with gen ed students who need RTI or MTSS.  If this is a special ed eval, they missed the timeline for completing the eval & moving forward and a state complain can be filed.

Given how you have described this student, they need a special ed level of evaluation for learning disabilities.  Having a LD & not getting the support you need can lead to frustration that comes out as punching classmates.  The 'in your face' thing is the punching where this ends up being the school's focus and the root of the issue (the LD) isn't looked at.  In cases like this, supporting the LD can fix the behavior.  (Documentary, The Kids We Lose, covered this issue.)

23 hours ago, JSD24 said:

Is the data collection & intervention trials part of RTI/MTSS where there are no timelines for placing support in place?  RTI & MTSS are part of general ed intervention where data collection & support trials would not need parent permission.

Yes, part of RTI. The parents are the sort who are hesitant about getting an IEP, hence why they haven't pushed it further. 

RTI isn't working unless the observation data shows things are getting better.  IMO, doing RTI for longer than a semester or so with the student not catching up is a red flag.  The student, most likely, needs an IEP if the RTI has gone on this long.

Parents need to request a special ed eval and see what the areas of disability really are.  If they don't move forward with an IEP, they will at least have a good baseline outlining what the student needs.

What is it going to take to convince the parents that the student needs more than gen ed is providing them?  This behavior continuing is going to get this student kicked out of school & put in alt ed.  Early intervention is best.  How about they pay for a tutor if they a set against an IEP?