The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore the ways educators at the school level experience the Common Core Standards and examine the contextual factors that impacted the way it was initially implemented. Qualitative data were gathered through teacher surveys, faculty focus groups, and interviews with each school principal and the two district Race to the Top coordinators. Analysis of the collected data uncovered common themes, including interpreting and framing the change, professional collaboration, impact of the change on teachers’ professional and personal lives, and pacing, communication, and training.

This article outlines the importance of assessing both within-child and environmental strengths for children and adolescents admitted to residential treatment facilities (RTFs). Discussed are the theoretical underpinnings behind strength-based assessment, as well as a number of organizations and initiatives that aim at raising the bar for children's care, creating a holistic viewpoint. Assessments such as the BASC-2, ASEBA, and Vineland-II are well-established measures that have moved to meet these demands, and measures like the BERS-2, RSCA, and DESSA have an overt strengths orientation. The CASA and the DCASC are omnibus strengths measures that can be utilized to fill the "intake gap." KEYWORDS strengths assessment, residential treatment, behavior rating scale, Devereux, mental health system, DCASC, DESSA, resilience Change is afoot in the world of residential treatment of children and youth. Children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are being seen in a new light, where more responsibility is being placed within their system of care to ensure that they receive opportunities to thrive, despite the odds. More and more care providers are turning toward a child-centered system of care, which admittedly begins before a child ever sets foot in a residential treatment facility (RTF), but which unequivocally transfers to residential treatment when necessary. This "new age" way of looking at the whole child begins at intake, sticks with the child until discharge, and is a centerpiece of wraparound services.