ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the professional and research literature regarding teachers’ decisions about placements. As any casual visitor to a teachers’ lounge probably knows, teachers have quite diverse opinions about the appropriateness of placements of students who need special education services. Teachers’ views of appropriate placement are apparently different from the views of administrators and psychologists, depending on the problems students manifest. The rationale for stipulating that teachers participate in placement decisions should be patently obvious. The unexpected or counterintuitive findings center on the extent to which teachers participate in placement decisions and their views about how placement decisions are made. The chapter examines the research in order to identify problems in policy and practice and gaps in our knowledge base about placement decisions. A variety of research strategies will be needed to provide the information necessary to answer questions about the role of teachers in placement decisions.
