To help ensure that multidisciplinary decision making in special education results in an appropriate education for exceptional students, principles drawn from theory and research on group decision making and problem solving were used to develop a decision model to serve as a guide for structuring and assessing the decision process at the school building level. The proposed model incorporated principles governing (a) the scope of the process, (b) the separation of specific problem solving procedures, and (c) the nature of member participation. Members of 230 planning groups were surveyed about their attitudes concerning 14 group activities chosen to reflect implementation of the model. Chi-square tests showed significant differences between the criterion level of 75% of the groups reporting participation or acceptance and reported levels of participation or acceptance for each of the 14 activities. As an evaluation tool, the model pointed to a notable deficiency in multidisciplinary establishment of criteria to guide the decision making as well as a lack of team planning for implementation and evaluation of the student's new educational program. (SBH)