When, How, and Why Educational Placement Decisions Are Made

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Abstract
Students with emotional or behavioral disorders are frequently placed in restrictive settings, yet we have little knowledge or understanding of the decisions leading to these placements. We interviewed educators involved in decisions to place two students with emotional or behavioral disorders in a special regional day school program. We were particularly interested in information regarding the rationale, procedures, participants, and contexts of these placement decisions. In these cases we think that the rationale for the decisions was comparatively well developed but that the procedures and participants were not well documented. The contexts of the decisions suggested that the elimination of options on a placement continuum may have had the effect of forcing more restrictive placement.