Most Influential Data Used for Special Education Placement “The single, most influential ‘data’ used for placing students in special education is the teacher’s off-hand evaluation.  The gist of these evaluations comes after 60 plus years of brainwashing:  we’ve been expected to believe convenient and fraudulent theories about intelligence, student behaviors, and student performance—as if there is a material, incontestable standard by which we may show deviances.  Testing is a mere formality, as is screening, and parents’ opinions commonly receive little or no attention.”    Lori Granger and Bill Granger, The Magic Feather: The Truth About Special Education [Bibliography].