This study addresses four questions: (1) What types of performance appraisal policy for educational staff have been adopted by Ontario school boards? (2) To what extent have these policies been implemented in practice? (3) What types of appraisal policies are most effective? and (4) What processes have school boards used to develop and implement their appraisal policies? To answer these questions, policies for the appraisal of teachers, principals, superintendents, and directors were requested from all 126 public boards of education or county and district Roman Catholic separate school boards in Ontario. Based on the responses, typologies were developed for appraisal practices for each of the roles under study, and questionnaires based on these typologies were administered to teachers, principals, superintendents, trustees, and directors in a stratified sample of 30 representative school boards. Percentage distributions were prepared for all characteristics included in the typologies of performance appraisal policy, revealing which practices were most widespread, and the characteristics of appraisal systems were correlated with their effects on the attitudes and behavior of those evaluated. Finally, individual case study reports were used to prepare a comparative analysis. Findings, reported in detail, suggest that formal appraisal systems can be effective, but that more effort must be made in implementing policies, and that stronger linkages are needed between performance appraisal and school boards' goals, organization, and job descriptions. (TE)