Patterns of organization for summer schools were examined for 55 American and seven Canadian public four-year colleges and universities, including research universities, doctorate-granting universities, and comprehensive universities and colleges. Relationships between organizational structure and the following factors were assessed: institutional size, type of institution (Carnegie classification), and career patterns of summer school administrators. In addition, attention was directed to new or planned changes concerning the following: responsibility for management of summer schools, sources and amounts of financial support, internal organization, number of full-time-equivalent credit hours generated by summer school enrollments, and numbers of credit generating educational activities offered on campus. The effect of organizational and administrative changes on staff morale was considered, and information was obtained on the type of top-level organizational structure used for summer sessions, and the functioning of the summer session office with regard to the academic program. A literature review, recommendations for additional research, list of participating institutions, and a questionnaire are included. (SW)