The Managing Independent Living Program provides instruction in reasoning skills to analyze career and life planning, housing, and consumer needs of persons in transition. Although the program was implemented and tested with adult female offenders, it is readily adaptable to both institutionalized and noninstitutionalized persons and for secondary school instruction. Cognitive skills emphasized in the curriculum include the ability to conceptualize problems; analyze situations; set priorities and goals; develop a decision-making process; generate alternatives; locate, organize, assess, process, and use information; determine controllable and uncontrollable elements in a situation; predict consequences; and structure time and events. For example, participants think through how they might change the level of economic resources available to them. Group and individualized instruction are used; participants work on their own goals and problems and move through the process at their own rate. The program has been successful for participants with a wide range of intellectual abilities and fosters cooperation between universities, state agencies, institutions, and the community. (Author/KC)