Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), such as student study teams, are mandated to (a) support students' educational functioning through systematic group problem solving and intervention and (b) offer protection against bias to students who may be referred for special education assessment. Given the proportional overrepresentation of African American students who receive special education services, however, there are concerns about the actual objectivity and fairness of the MDT process. This study is a microethnographic investigation of how the social process and context of MDTs in two rural, southern elementary schools inhibited the teams' thorough and unbiased discussion of some African American students' psychoeducational functioning. Although ethnic bias was not documented, four themes related to the social context of the team and bias in the problem-solving process were identified.

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This case study involves application of program-centered and consultee-centered administrative consultation as an emergency mental health intervention to enhance the response of an eastern seaboard university to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The university had provisions for many forms of emergency in its action plan, but not for the provision of psychological first aid in response to wide spread trauma. Key components of the administrative consultation were the need to rapidly scan the organization, to engage key personnel as consultees, and to support the creation of an effective action plan. Major problems encountered in the consultation included resistance through psychological reactance, and managing differences in expectation and coping needs between students, faculty, and administrators.