Estimates indicate more than 5,000 schools throughout the United States are now implementing some form of conflict resolution or peer mediation program. The experience of the New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution (NMCDR), a community mediation agency that specializes in programs for children and families, illustrates the growth of youth mediation programs. The New Mexico model combines a classroom conflict resolution curriculum with a mediation component. At the elementary level, students are trained in a simple mediation process and take turns patrolling the playground to offer their conflict resolution services to peers who are having fights. At the secondary level, student mediators meet with disputants in a supervised but private setting to help peers resolve differences. Principals of schools with mediation programs indicate the biggest program impacts are increased self-confidence and improved problem-solving ability. The NMCDR also includes gang mediation strategies, focuses on family dysfunction as a major cause of problem behavior in school, and builds on young people's strengths. 16 notes