By enabling students to mediate their own disputes, educators may be synthesizing the finest potential in the school--the creative, constructive dynamic inherent in conflict. This article describes a mediated dispute resolution program used in several schools and offers implementation advice. (MLH)

Examines the dynamics of conflict and anger expressed by irate parents and offers principals a simple, effective method to resolve conflict and reduce anger in an integrative way. Well-managed conflict helps improve interpersonal relationships, promote healthy interaction, and develop creative, synergistic solutions to undesirable situations. (MLH)

Success in conferring with hostile parents is a result of careful planning, understanding human behavior, and frontline experience. This article encourages principals to develop the necessary skills to handle emotion-charged encounters with alienated, calculative, and committed parents. (MLH)

For schools, teachers, and principals, there is no censorship insurance--especially against attacks directed at learning techniques involved with problem solving and higher order thinking skills. Pincipals faced with disputes must work for consensus before, during, and after a controversy and mitigate self-righteousness and arrogance on either…

Authorized by Title X of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Community Relations Service (CRS) is a mediation service dealing with community racial disputes. CRS has spent much of the past three years working in Los Angeles and is now handling problem solving in multiracial, multicultural schools in Stockton, California. Workshop participants usually…

Participants in the Honolulu School District's Dispute Management in the Schools Project strongly believe that students can effectively participate in activities affecting their destiny. Preliminary evidence shows that student mediators and disputants demonstrated a 95 percent success rate of conflict management during the three project years.…

A recent study of Houston secondary schools shows that assistant principals' work centers on routine clerical tasks, custodial duties, and discipline. Daily activities are characterized by brevity, variety, and fragmentation. Assistant principals are seldom charged with instructional improvement activities, except for teacher appraisal. The…

In peer mediation, students can resolve conflicts and orchestrate their own solutions. According to the National Association for Mediation in Education, school-based mediation teaches students how to deal with anger constructively, communicate feelings without using violence and abusive language, think creatively about alternative solutions, and…

Instead of relegating their assistant principal to discipline and attendance, the Frankfurt (West Germany) American High School restructured the AP role to focus on instructional leadership, employee supervision, collegiality, training, and positive student interactions. Conflict resolution, lunchtime intramurals, town hall meetings, and a…

The Student Problem Identification/Resolution Program developed by the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service assists school administrators in addressing racial/ethnic tensions manifested on secondary school campuses. The project involves students, teachers, and administrators in improving schools' learning environment through…

Experiential drama consists of short skits that address various value areas. Issues drawn from student experiences are used in the dramatizations, which portray the actual experiences and incidents. Students develop the scenarios and present them to classes, social agencies, churches, and businesses. Educational benefits abound. (MLH)

In response to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments (1997), the Virginia Department of Education implemented a statewide mediation system that includes eight mediators to resolve parent-school conflicts involving special-education issues. An impartial third party helps disputants reach agreement in a nonthreatening atmosphere.…

Describes a weekend conference that brought together board members, central office administrators, and building-level administrators to examine the self-images of these people and how such images conflicted or were congruent with expectations and desires held by others. (Author/IRT)

Behavior problems demanding severe disciplinary actions are disruptive, eroding forces in classrooms. Effective group guidance programs have students keep track of concerns, problems, or difficulties encountered. The Problem Tracker, allowing students to record stressful or problematic situations, provides a buffer permitting more thoughtful…