Based on presentations given at a 1989 conference, this booklet offers a literature-based perspective on systematic screening procedures and functional assessment procedures to facilitate services to students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The following topics are addressed: assessment decisions (in the areas of classification, evaluation of progress, and instructional planning); eligibility (screening, prereferral, and certification); use of appropriate definitions that lead to intervention strategies; description of problem behaviors using a school-based or educational model; analyzing relationships between specific behaviors and their settings; functional assessment; attitudes and the impact of labeling; systematic screening; the multidisciplinary team; identification practices focusing on observable behavior; instructional decisions based on assessment; a model for curriculum-based assessment; curriculum-based assessment and social behaviors; and identifying critical behaviors. (Includes 70 references.) (DB)