To determine critical deficiencies in institutional reform related to accreditation, data from surveys conducted by the Accreditation Council for Facilities for the Mentally Retarded were analyzed. Identified were critical standards with which significant proportions of the facilities surveyed did not comply, formulated was an object-classification scheme describing residential services, and evaluated was the presence or absence of trends. Data indicated that over two-thirds of all critical standards identified were covered in the requirement for provision of active habilitation programming to each resident, and that evaluation and program planning, documentation, physical environment and integration of the multihandicapped were ranked as the most critical facility deficiencies. (Included in five appendixes are the classified critical standards for all facilities surveyed and the list of 651 standards classified according to topical requirements for residential facilities.) (CL)