The introduction to this anthology reports a study designed to develop a systematic procedure for gathering information from actual school settings about the impact of school organization, staffing, and administration on students--information to provide baseline data for decisionmakers. Included are description of methods and procedures, data analysis techniques, and specific objectives which included (1) selection, modification, and design of instruments for gathering data regarding students, teachers, parents, principals, and teacher aides, percepts of selected issues in the elementary school and instruments for making objective observations of classroom environment, and (2) gathering baseline information on one public and one nonpublic (one centralized and one decentralized) elementary school in urban, deprived environments. The eight chapters, each written by a specialist in the area of concern, present different aspects of the study: The Place of Objective Information in Total School Planning; Critical Information Requirements in the Management of the Elementary School; Analysis and Implications of Student, Teacher, and Parent Percepts of Student Performance; Professional Staff Encounters; Classroom Ecology; General Atmosphere for Administrative Autonomy: The Atmosphere for Decision Making; Three Views of the Teacher Aide; and Community Interest in Local School Management. (JS)