Two strategies employed by school administrators to obtain compliance in public schools are examined in terms of their concrete expression in school rules regarding student behavior. Two kinds of rules are specified: comparative rules, which juxtapose some student behavior with an organizational response in an exchange relationship; and definitive rules, which are based on a well-defined image of the school as an institution that has a special social meaning and members with special identities. To investigate the use of definitive rules in public school settings, data from two originally separate studies--of an inner-city, predominantly black middle school and of a suburban upper-middle-class senior high school--were reanalyzed. In addition, interview and observation data from a teacher at another high school were reanalyzed to provide a close-up look at the use of definitive rules in a single classroom. The study concludes that, if comparative rules function to conserve commitment and definitive rules function to enhance commitment, both may be necessary for managing compliance in school organizations. (Author/MLF)