The brief paper summarizes the final report of a federally funded project titled, "Ramps Are Not Enough: The Movement of Children with Mental Retardation from Institutional to Community-Based Care." The follow-up study of former residents (N=178) of New Hampshire's Laconia State School included an examination of residential and educational consequences of deinstitutionalization, four in-depth case studies, and an effort to trace the chronological relationship between federal and state policy and budgetary changes and the community living experiences of subjects. Among results were the following: on leaving the school, most residents returned to natural families, foster, or group homes; although ex-residents tended to stay in community placements an average of 3 to 4 years, almost half of the placements lasted less than 1 year and almost one-third of the subjects returned to the state school; although most children were originally placed in self-contained classrooms or schools many were later changed to less restrictive placements; about one-half of the sample changed educational placements once; vocational special education was received by relatively few children; and training in daily living skills or self-help skills was provided to most of the sample. (DB)