Educators are participating in a school development initiative that helps them set up an action-planning system to bring about desired changes in their schools. These staff members are participating in School Effectiveness Training (SET), an elementary school program which combines the effective schools research with team building and priority-setting techniques, and Joining Forces, SET's secondary school improvement version. Through the establishment of coordinating councils, a core group of the staff assumes responsibility for the overall operation of the program. They set goals and objectives, establish operational and procedural guidelines, and manage program activities. This document focuses on content issues and includes four areas that respond to the interest of the district and school improvement sites. Four sections are included: discipline, drugs and alcohol, student achievement, and student attendance. These sections contain summaries of programs and practices from around the country that are useful for school improvement planners. The materials included in this document are representative of many more that are also appropriate for district and school planning groups, and they should be treated, therefore, as a sample of resources to strengthen school improvement plans. (ABL)