The labyrinth of IDEA: school decisions on referred students with subaverage general intelligence.

A sample of 150 children referred to Student Study Teams was assessed with a psychometric battery. Behavioral and academic ratings were obtained from teachers. Forty-three children scored at or below 75 on the WISC-III. We examined schools' subsequent classification decisions to ascertain how schools dealt with low-IQ students with academic and behavioral problems. Schools reached decisions regarding 35 of the children: Only 6 were classified as having mental retardation, and 18, as having learning disabilities. Findings were discussed in terms of (a) decline in identification rates of mild mental retardation and (b) the extent to which school decisions adhere to the research criteria.