The Target: Communication Skills program instituted in the Lincoln, Nebraska, public schools proposes that all students, K-12, in all subject areas be provided with opportunities to develop and improve their communication skills. The program emphasizes four basic skills: speaking, observing, listening, and nonverbal skills. In applying this program to junior high school students, an understanding of the students' view of communication as self-centered rather than communal, passive rather than active, and coercive rather than persuasive provides a necessary basis for developing a communications skills class. (Appendixes include a statement of district goals, a program model, a list of achievement indicators for grades 7-9, and a course outline.) (DF)