In response to growing public concern over declining educational quality and discipline problems in today's schools, this paper reviews research on the causes of school disruption and student misbehavior, identifies promising ameliorative strategies, and examines specific research-practitioner collaborations that have successfully reduced school disorder. Schools with discipline problems lack fair, clearly stated, and firmly enforced rules and respond ambiguously to student misbehavior or ignore it. Such schools are large, located in urban areas, lack teaching resources and close teacher-administrator cooperation, and have teachers with punitive attitudes. Disruptive students generally do not attend school regularly, are low achievers with low educational expectations, have delinquent friends, dislike school, lack belief in the validity of rules, and have little adult supervision. The risk factors for schools and individuals converge in suggesting the need for clear, fair, and consistent rule enforcement that promotes a more positive attitude toward school and the validity of rules. Bringing about beneficial school change requires an organizational development approach, as used in a national Delinquency Prevention Through Alternative Education project using a tool called Program Development Evaluation. The Effective Schools Project in Baltimore, Maryland, is an example of a successful collaborative process working toward classroom management and instructional innovations aimed at improving student outcomes. (Unfortunately, the improvement was never institutionalized.) Other specific program models and instructional strategies are summarized, along with recommendations for further research. (40 references) (MLH)