Students new to a self-contained middle school for students with emotional disturbance (ED) were followed during their first year to assess the effectiveness of the program on school functioning and psychopathology. Measures for academic functioning (grade point average and subject failures), attendance (absenteeism and lateness), and disciplinary referrals (with and without out-of-school suspension) were obtained for the year prior to enrollment as well as at the completion of the first year in the program. Pre and post psychopathology were also rated for the students through the teacher version of the Adolescent Symptom Inventory (ASI-4T). Significant improvement with an average effect size of 0.61 was found for 5 of the 6 functional measures, as well as for the conduct disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (inattentive type) categories of the ASI-4T. Thus, first-year effectiveness was found for the ED program, although the levels of absenteeism, disciplinary referrals, and psychopathology remained of concern. (Contains 3 tables.)