This reports presents results from a review of 38 published studies that measured behavioral outcomes associated with the movement of people with mental retardation from public institutions to community residential settings. Results demonstrate strongly and consistently that people who move from institutions to community settings have experiences that help them to improve their adaptive behavior skills. In the area of challenging behavior, all of the findings of decline associated with deinstitutionalization occurred in studies published during the 1980s. The studies of challenging behavior in the 1990s consistently found improvement in both overall challenging behavior and in the specific subdomains of challenging behavior measured. Evaluations of community behavior support and crisis response systems show that they can be both effective in addressing challenging behavior and preventing institutionalization, and at the same time be cost-effective. The review also found that people who moved from institutions improved their material well-being and community integration over that of a contrast group of people who remained in institutions. Finally, a comparison of the relative cost of serving people in community versus institutional settings found that the average expenditure for state institutions is substantially greater than the average expenditure from community service recipients. (Contains 62 references.) (CR)