Universal screening is an emerging practice in the field of education to provide at-risk students with early intervention services. Currently there is not a universal screener specifically designed for the middle school population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to obtain junior high and middle school teachers' perspectives on behaviors exhibited by students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders in order to develop preliminary test items. Several themes were identified from the teachers' perspectives. Teacher perspectives noted that at-risk students displayed a variety of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. These issues included difficulty maintaining peer and teacher relationships, difficulty with hygiene and sleep, challenging home and school relationships, and noncompliant behaviors. From these themes, the researcher created an initial item pool of 24 items, which can be used for future development of a screening instrument.