Functional versus standardized assessment procedures: implications for educational programming

Teacher perceptions of the educational value of two distinct assessment procedures for assessing an 8-year-old student with severe to profound multiple disabilities were compared. Direct service providers (N = 38) from a public school system, randomly distributed into three groups, were asked to use an 8-item Likert-type survey to rate one of three assessment packages: standardized, functional-ecological, and a combined package. Results for four of the eight items were statistically significant. The functional-ecological approach was perceived to be most beneficial for educational intervention. Implications for greater emphasis on a functional-ecological assessment procedure versus standardized procedures were discussed.