The question of how staff development can be structured to serve as a lever for school improvement is addressed by analyzing and synthesizing empirical studies that have reported an impact of staff development on significant characteristics of effective schools. The choice and conception of the term "staff development" is discussed, followed by the construction from the research literature of a taxonomy of critical dimensions of staff development. The resulting schema is employed in the synthesis of research by carrying out a form of configurative mapping to illuminate recurring trends and associations between staff development and effective school variables. A second analysis is concerned with reported constraints in targeting staff development toward the attainment, and maintenance, of the various characteristics of an effective school. Finally, the implications of these findings for research on staff development are discussed. (JD)