This curriculum guide is designed to lower the dropout rate and improve the academic achievement of handicapped and nonhandicapped high school students by developing their personal and social skills. It may be used in a variety of classroom, special education, and guidance settings. The lessons use relevant experiences to stimulate learning through active participation and experiential activities such as plays, short stories, role-playing scripts, and stress management exercises. The lessons are organized into three components: social skills, problem solving, and stress management. The social skills component contains 26 lessons on passive, assertive, and aggressive behavior; assertive communication; social conversation; and dealing with criticism assertively. The problem-solving component presents 27 lessons on agreements; feelings; beliefs and their effects on emotions; and a six-step, problem-solving method. The stress management component includes 29 lessons which develop a variety of stress reduction techniques and provide reinforcement for the social skills and problem-solving lessons. The components may be taught separately, sequentially, or simultaneously; many of the social skills and problem-solving lessons are keyed to the stress management lessons. Each lesson includes: lesson objective, behavioral objective, materials, activity, closure, and transfer. An 18-item reference bibliography is included. (DC)