This monograph explores the social context of the school and how this context influences, for better or worse, the academic and social behavior of students. It reviews how most student behavior serves a meaningful purpose for the student and how similar behaviors may serve distinctly different functions for various students. It also explores how many of the common practices employed by educators and school administrators may actually serve to strengthen the very behaviors their actions are designed to curtail. Special attention is given to the role of the school administrator in the development of a school and classroom climate that promotes academic achievement and desired behaviors. Information is presented that can aid administrators in shifting discipline efforts from action designed to merely suppress undesired student behavior to a process of promoting student success through the display of desired behavior. Procedures to assist administrators in the examination of the current level of student functioning, both academically and socially, are described, as well as the importance of monitoring and supporting desired teacher and staff behavior as it relates to student functioning. Practical approaches for the implementation of effective strategies to promote academic achievement and desired student behavior are outlined. (Contains 25 references.) (CR)