An ecological model derived from family systems theory and strategies borrowed from family therapy are effective substitutes for the medical model and clinical methods traditionally used by school pyschologists to help children with academic or behavior problems. Behavior is an outgrowth of interpersonal processes in a particular system rather than the product of the child's intrapsychic processes, attitudes, physical defects, or history. The ecological model focuses on problem resolution in the school or classroom; behavioral changes are promoted through the restructuring of interpersonal transactions in the school environment. Deviant academic or social behavior in the classroom results from and is maintained by the system within the school, which assigns roles and defines behavioral expectations to preserve its own homeostasis. In the proposed model, sessions involving the child, teacher, administrator, and parents transform adversarial relationships into relationships marked by shared responsibility for mutually desired outcomes. School psychologists must abandon their traditional linear approach, which focuses on why behaviors occur, and adopt a systems approach that looks at the "what" and "when" of behavior during the conference session to increase their effectiveness in promoting system changes. (Author/CS)