Unresolved conflicts in schools build barriers to learning, including low motivation, lack of focus, and disruptive behaviors that remove students from the classroom. When teacher-student conflicts occur, the negative effects can be long-lasting without a safe and structured way to repair the relationship. This reader-friendly guidebook has a concrete, evidence-based solution: an easy and effective 50-minute mediation technique for teachers and students in Grades K-12. School psychologist Ondine Gross guides you through the whole process of starting a teacher-student mediation program, conducting successful mediations, and collecting and monitoring data to measure the effectiveness of the program. You'll also learn how to use the technique to mediate conflicts between students and between adults in schools, including staff members and parents. Highly successful as a Tier II intervention, this common-sense solution will help your school leave ineffective discipline techniques behind--and embrace more supportive approaches that model social and problem solving skills, reduce suspensions, and keep students learning. Why is mediation important: (1) Reduces disciplinary actions--82% of students who participated in teacher-student mediation had no further disciplinary referrals from that teacher; (2) Removes or reduces obstacles to student learning and achievement; (3) Gives teachers insights into student stressors so they can develop positive solutions; (4) Strengthens and repairs relationships among all members of a school community: teachers, students, staff members, and parents; (5) Enhances social-emotional learning and communication skills; (6) Builds trust and promotes a caring and respectful environment among people of different backgrounds; (7) Fits perfectly within response to intervention and systems of schoolwide positive behavior support frameworks; and (8) Works in any school--embed it as a Tier II intervention in your multitiered system of supports or use it as a standalone strategy. This book includes compelling school stories; candid feedback from teachers, students, and administrators; step-by-step mediation training and practice scenarios; sample mediation dialogue and communication tips; an intervention tracking tool; and a "mediation toolbox" of handouts and forms. The contents include: About the Forms, About the Author, a Preface and Acknowledgements. Following are ten chapters: (1) A Call to Action: Reforming Discipline, Improving Relationships, and Building Better Schools; (2) Systems to Help Students: How Response to Intervention and Multi-tiered Positive Behavior Supports Transform a School; (3) What Is Teacher-Student Mediation?; (4) How to Conduct Teacher-Student Mediations; (5) What Is Required of a Skilled School Mediator?; (6) Sources of Teacher-Student Conflict, Problem-Solving Strategies, and Sample Mediations; (7) Feedback on Teacher-Student Mediation; (8) Promising Data: Mediation Is Effective; (9) How to Conduct Student Mediations; and (10) Mediation with Adults in Schools: The Next Frontier. Appended are: (1) Your Mediation Toolbox and (2) Tier II Intervention Guide. The book concludes with an Afterward, References, and an Index. [The Foreword was written by Jed Baker.]