To be a competent teacher, the school environment must be organized to preserve a system of student behavior and group functioning which allows the teacher to select the activities in which the group will engage. This is often called "maintaining control" by teachers. Means of organizing the school context to affect student behavior are examined in this study. These means include: (1) the arrangement of the physical environment and the people in it; (2) the use of time; and (3) the system of rewards and recognition. The ways in which teachers utilize these means are discussed in terms of their differential success in maintaining control. (Author/MC)