The effects of a school on diffuse attributes of students such as their values are seen as produced by the wider social definition of the products of the school--here called its "charter". Schools or systems of schools which are chartered to confer major status gains and entry into diffusely-defined elites are seen as more likely to have broad effects on their students. Organizational conditions, however, may mediate this overall effect of the relationship between a school and its surrounding social environment. (Author)