In 1975 the Ontario Ministry of Education assigned major responsibilities in curriculum development to local school boards. School boards responded by establishing or expanding special units to develop local programs. At the present time, the organization of these units or program departments varies widely. The focus of the present study is to determine the most effective organizational structure for this curriculum task. A brief review of the literature concerning the relationship of organizational structure to organizational effectiveness is presented. The study examines the organizational structure of 25 school board program departments on four bureaucratic dimensions: (1) configuration, or hierarchical organization; (2) specialization, or the number of functions performed exclusively by one person; (3) centralization, or the locus of decision making, and (4) formalization, or role definition in a department. A regression analysis of these variables on organizational effectiveness revealed centralization and formalization to be negatively related, hierarchical configuration positively related, and specialization not related to effectiveness. The authors explain these results in the light of previous organizational research and the unique characteristics of this sample and outline implications for educational practice. A bibliography and the instruments used to measure effectiveness and the bureaucratic dimensions are included. (Author/MLF)