This fourth volume of a six-volume study of a school district code-named "Milford" provides an ethnographic account of Kensington School today. Tracing the school's development through the 1979-80 school year, the study's central metaphor is of a ship on a perilous journey. Chapter 1 describes the school's opening day and "Crosscurrents in Kensington's Course." Chapter 2 explores Kensington's "turbulent environment" at the federal, state, and local levels. Chapter 3's exposition of "The Views from the Principal's Office" examines the tenure of four successive principals. Chapter 4 focuses on Kensington staff and on pedagogy in Kensington's classrooms, including sections on instructional goals and objectives, curriculum and instruction, instructional styles and methods, and instructional control. In chapter 5, "Between the Lines: An Emerging Concept of Organizational Identity," the authors look closely at Kensington's building, its past, staff, instructional program, and facades and realities. The final chapter, "Implications for Thought and Practice," discusses longitudinal nested systems and educational policy perspectives and offers a summary and conclusions. In order to protect the anonymity of the school district studied in such detail, pseudonyms have been used for all place names (school, school district, city, county, state) and personal names (school superintendents, school board members, teachers, students) appearing in the various volumes of this set. (JBM)