For several years now, the Montgomery County Public Schools in the suburbs of Washington D.C. have been working with one of the premier dispute resolution experts to overhaul the way decisions are made and disputes resolved. The process has been tremendously successful.

At this point, they wish to capture the essence of what they did in ways that can produce similar results elsewhere, in similarly placed school districts around the country. As a result, they want HNMCP to study the reforms made, and the process by which those reforms were implemented, with a view towards generating a best-practice.

Our work

Step 1: Research and observe Montgomery County School Systems’ dispute resolution and problem solving strategies in action.

Step 2:  Interview process design architects about the implementation process, and representative stakeholder groups about their experiences using these collaborative processes.

Step 3:  Generate a ‘best practices’ inventory of practices.

Final Product

Best practice manual, describing the functional role of the various dispute management and problem solving strategies operating in the Montgomery County Public Schools, with process implementation guide for other, similarly placed school systems.