Environment plays an influential role in behavior. There is, however, often a discrepancy between the intended academic environment (as expressed by the institution in a variety of ways), and that perceived by the students. In order to explore this discrepancy, which may exist between the intended and the perceived institutional press, it is important to have an accurate measure of the environment. Most existing instruments do not use student perceptions to assess the school's environment but rely on other data sources. Accordingly, the Perceived Environment Profile (PEP) was developed for this purpose, based on Pace's College and University Environment Scales (CUES). PEP is a 55-item scale containing statements about high schools which are categorized into five sub-scales: Practicality, Community, Awareness, Propriety, and Scholarship. A pilot study, conducted to ascertain the most discriminating items, yielded 11 items for each sub-scale. Reliability estimates using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 21 yielded an average coefficient of +.86. PEP requires 20-30 minutes to administer and the Flesch regression formula indicates that it is of low level reading difficulty. It is concluded that in this study PEP demonstrated its potential value as a valid instrument to measure characteristics or the environmental press of the secondary school. (PR)