To establish effective school discipline policies, educators need to understand (1) the nature of and reasons for misbehavior, (2) social and legal attitudes toward the school's disciplinary function, (3) acceptable responses to disciplinary problems, and (4) what effective policies cover. This booklet's first chapter considers the need for discipline in schools and recent trends in student behavior and national concern. The second chapter examines the changing role of the school and the application of tort law, criminal law, parental responsibility law, and state constitutional law in the school setting. Chapter 3 distinguishes between criminal and noncriminal behavior, reviews appropriate sanctions for each, and discusses the school's responsibility for keeping records and developing responses to patterns of misbehavior. This chapter also defines terms used to describe criminal acts. The fourth chapter presents 10 rules to follow when developing student discipline regulations. Chapter 5 selects typical regulations from student handbooks from 713 secondary schools to provide a model code of conduct. The special problems of disciplining students in special education are considered in the sixth chapter. Chapter 7 lists student handbooks from around the United States, books discussing student discipline, and relevant films, filmstrips, and videotapes. (PGD)