FUNCTIONAL VERSUS DEVELOPMENTAL ASSESSMENT - INFLUENCES ON INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING DECISIONS

To examine the effects of the type of assessment report on educators' planning decisions, 86 educators of students with severe mental retard ation were assigned randomly to one of two groups, those reading a fun ctional assessment report or those reading a developmental assessment report for the same student with severe mental retardation. After read ing the assessment report, each educator wrote five instructional obje ctives and made recommendations for service delivery. No significant d ifferences were found in the quality of Individualized Education Progr am (IEP) objectives. However, more participants in the developmental g roup recommended related services than those in the functional group. In addition, educators who read the functional reports recommended les s restrictive placements than those who read developmental reports.