The DCF Regional School - Mercer Campus seeks to provide alternative educational options to students in the Mercer County area. Through our educational programs students are given the tools to succeed in and outside of the school environment. Our focus programs at DCF Mercer include Project TEACH and the TEC Program.

An alternative, year-round education program for parenting and expecting teens who need a healing-centered environment, while helping students to receive a diploma from their local school district. This program provides students with specialized academic instruction, life and parenting skills, and career guidance. Parenting teens participate in a hands-on learning lab to acquire parenting skills. Project TEACH also offers on-site licensed day care facilities provide infant and toddler care. Our goal in Project TEACH is to supply skills needed to create a positive life for themselves and their children. Students are also linked to community resources for ongoing parenting support. Most importantly, the individual needs and learning preferences of each student shapes the instructional program.

The Transitional Education Center (TEC) program is a community based, State operated alternative school designed to meet the needs of court-involved and other at-risk youth from the ages 14 through 21. As an alternative, year-round educational program we seek to meet the needs of an array of students at risk of school failure. Students are provided an educational program based on NJSLS and the graduation requirements of their local high school. Each student is supported and encouraged to earn a diploma from their local district high school.

The TEC program also provides individually designed education plans that support students' strengths to meet their academic, social, and career needs. A primary goal of the TEC program is to give students the necessary skills to create a positive life, and to assist in promoting successful reintegration into future school, work, and community endeavors.

Visiting Nurse Partnership  
The DCF Regional School-Mercer Campus participates in the Visiting Nurse Partnership with The College of New Jersey (TCNJ).  Nursing students from the college visit our nurseries and perform wellness checks. These students also provide our students with presentations on various health topics.  The Visiting Nurse Partnership supplies the nursing students with clinical learning experience, while sharing with our students up-to-date, health-related info.  This relationship with TCNJ is an excellent source of role modeling not just for childcare, but also as an obtainable vocation for our students.

Mercer County Community College (MCCC)  
DCF Mercer also has an excellent working relationship with Mercer County Community College (MCCC).  Students have attended Culinary Arts workshops at the college and toured both the West Windsor and the Kearney Campuses.  Some post-graduates have taken advantage of block grants to receive vocational training in Dental Hygiene. We expect more fields are to become available as our relationship continues to grow.