To prepare high school graduates with visual impairments for college, staff members at Perkins School for the Blind developed a nine month residential program, College Success@Perkins. This article describes components of the program design and provides data on eight students who successfully completed the program in the first cohort. It concludes…

Living-learning communities combine curricular, co-curricular, and residential components of college life. They are a relatively new variation on the residential education that has been part of the undergraduate experience at America's independent colleges and universities for centuries. Research suggests that living-learning communities have a…

In this article, the author, a parent of Malik, a special needs child with CHARGE Syndrome, describes the difficulties she encountered with her local educational agency (LEA) in transitioning her son from the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts to the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf (ENCSD). At ENCSD, Malik now…

Teacher residency programs are a relatively new method for building stronger teacher pipelines. Research assessing the impact of these programs is still limited, but some early reports suggest that residency programs hold promise for improving teacher effectiveness and retention rates (Barrett, Hovde, Hahn, & Rosqueta, 2011; Papay, West,…

In recent years, many institutions have developed residential living-learning communities that aim to involve faculty in promoting peer-to-peer learning and furthering students' scholarly interests in a residential setting. A special type of living-learning community--the residential college--has been embraced by many: Harvard University; the…

This article features Melmark New England, a private, nonprofit, community based organization dedicated to serving children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, acquired brain injury, neurological diseases and disorders, and severe challenging behaviors. The Melmark parent corporation, a Pennsylvania based provider of services for those…

Examined deinstitutionalization and community facilities for emotionally disturbed adolescents through statewide survey of 125 licensed group-care providers and field research methods at five small residential facilities. Results suggest these facilities are a new type of social setting with no direct correlation to other types of institutions.…

An investigation of smoking polices and smoking practices of residents and employees in 106 Massachusetts state-supported residential programs found that state-operated programs prohibited employees from smoking in residences and restricted residents who smoked to designated areas. One-third of vendor-operated agencies allowed residents and staff…

This paper describes the response of one locality, a rural county in Western Massachusetts, to the reality of rural homelessness. Jessie's House, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, is a short-term emergency shelter providing meals, housing, and advocacy to homeless families and individuals. The shelter has a staff of three full-time residents and…

In large residential treatment centers for adolescent youth, program administrators and clinical staff rely on the information imparted to them by direct care staff to make appropriate decisions regarding administrative and clinical support functions so that the residents in care can receive the best treatment possible. This study was designed to…

Gould Farm, the oldest therapeutic community in the United States, uses the rural farming lifestyle and a multigenerational community to serve adults with psychiatric disabilities. The Timber Framers Guild helped raise a barn there as one of its community service projects. The barn will be used to enhance the farm's food processing and vocational…

This exploratory study looked at the rate of staff satisfaction as compared to client satisfaction in a residential treatment facility. Research has shown that staff who have negative attitudes, and are not satisfied with their positions, transport those negative feelings onto the clients they are serving (Balfour & Neff, 1993). While some…

In Massachusetts, rehabilitation opportunities are graduated, increasingly intensive, and determined by the number of prior convictions for driving under the influence of liquor (DUIL). Convicted first offenders may choose participation in a 40-hour educational rehabilitation program. Individuals convicted of a second DUIL offense may participate…

The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) is the nation's oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization committed to engaging people everywhere in promoting the well-being of children, youth, and their families and protecting every child from harm. By publishing a diverse range of views on a wide array of topics, "Children's…

Residence life programs play a key role in recruiting students, helping them make a successful transition to a new institution, and in retaining them, whether students are enrolling for the first time, transferring from another institution, or entering graduate school. Chapters in this book address theories of learning and development, new…