An experiment was conducted to investigate three orthogonal dimensions of school districts--per pupil wealth, urbanization, and socioeconomic status--and three aspects of schools--socioeconomic status, weighting of teacher behaviors by principals, and type of supervisory organization--in relation to the level or status of and the valuing of two orthogonal sets of teacher characteristics. The first set was comprised of task performance variables, the second of personal-social variables. First, instruments were developed to measure teacher characteristics. Then a sample of approximately 650 teachers drawn from 52 schools in 20 Indiana school systems was studied. Statistical analysis of the results indicated that school districts above the state average in socioeconomic status hold a substantial advantage in attracting and maintaining intermediate teachers superior in task performance, but there is no general relationship between the task performance of primary teachers or the level of personal-social characteristics of primary or intermediate teachers and any major dimension of school districts. Moreover, the valuing of teacher characteristics is almost wholly coordinate to the presence of a supervisory organization in the school district. (A 26-item bibliography, a description of instrument development, and selected instruments are appended.) (Author/SG)