THE FIRST PHASE OF A COORDINATED THREE-DIMENSIONAL STUDY OF TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS INVESTIGATED PLATFORM DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE STATE'S TWO MAIN TEACHERS' ORGANIZATIONS AND THE KNOWLEDGE, OPINIONS, AND ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS ON 11 ISSUES OVER WHICH THE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION AND FEDERATION OF TEACHERS AFFILIATES WERE IN CONFLICT. THE SECOND STUDY EXAMINED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER PERSONALITY FACTORS AND TEACHER ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP. THE THIRD STUDY EXAMINED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE OF A SCHOOL AND TEACHER ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIP AND ACTIVITY PATTERNS. RESPONSE DATA WERE ANALYZED FROM A RETURN OF 1,262 QUESTIONNAIRES (90.5 PERCENT OF 1,426 TOTAL), REPRESENTING AN 11 PERCENT STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE SEVEN COUNTY TWIN CITIES AREA--417 TEACHERS FROM 21 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, 320 FROM SEVEN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS, 448 FROM NINE LARGE SECONDARY SCHOOLS, AND 241 FROM EIGHT SMALL SECONDARY SCHOOLS. THE VAST MAJORITY OF MEMBERS OF TEACHERS' ORGANIZATIONS WERE FOUND TO AGREE WITH THEIR ORGANIZATION'S POSITION ON CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES. WHILE DISTINCTIVE PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTIC PATTERNS WERE FOUND AMONG MEMBERS OF THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS, TEACHER ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP WAS FOUND TO BE UNRELATED TO THE ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE OF A SCHOOL. AN INTERPRETIVE OUTLINE SUMMARIZES 38 FINDINGS, WITH IMPLICATIONS TO HELP TEACHERS, LEADERS, AND ADMINISTRATORS VISUALIZE THEIR ENVIRONMENTS. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE INTERSTATE PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, INC., DANVILLE, ILLINOIS 61832, 119 PAGES. (JK)