The research focused on two schools in which committees of teachers and parents developed discipline codes and on two other schools that served as controls. The schools were located in one of the poorest and most crime-ridden areas of Chicago. The committees learned about law regarding order and control, developed a code that required teachers to become educators about discipline, established discipline councils to review important discipline cases, and included rewards for good behavior as well as punishments for bad behavior. The research found that educators and parents often lack understanding of the laws applicable to school order and safety, that effective parent involvement is the greatest need for improving school order and safety, and that patterns of discipline administration at disorderly and unsafe schools are often inconsistent and inefficient.