Psychological assessment traditionally entails assessment processes and measures to address questions about children. In school settings, these questions usually center on why children experience difficulty learning, engage in inappropriate classroom deportment, and fail to develop adaptive peer relationships. The mini-series in this issue provides a focused review of one of these methods (viz., direct observation) and the myriad measures and applications of observational assessment appropriate for school psychology practice. Contributing authors detail direct observational assessment procedures and measures appropriate for a variety of school settings, including classrooms, playgrounds, and test sessions and clinical interviews. In addition, overarching psychometric issues regarding observational assessment are also discussed. This commentary provides a clinical perspective to the issues discussed in the mini-series along with caveats concerning school-based observations in diagnostic assessment of child psychopathology. (Contains 1 table.)