When teachers strive to help a student with serious behavior challenges, they often feel at a loss and seek guidance from a problem-solving team of counselors, administrators, and other colleagues. But too often such team meetings fail to provide concrete ideas for things the teacher can do. Rather than simply discussing the mounting challenges,…

At their worst, parent meetings (especially when they focus on a problem) are packed with defensiveness, frustration, guilt, and fear for parents, teachers, and students. All parties want to "get it over with." But by sharpening their facilitation skills, teachers can keep a parent meeting from degenerating into a dance of blame. This article…