The organizational characteristics of school systems that affect the process and outcomes of planned change activities are examined in this monograph, which analyzes the Rural Experimental Schools Program (RESP), a set of long-term education field experiments sponsored by the National Institute of Education in 10 geographically dispersed school districts comprising 52 individual schools, to develop and implement comprehensive changes in all aspects of district and school functioning. The crucial relationship between the organizational properties of schools and their districts is explored. Particular attention is given to the organizational characteristics of the parts of the educational system (such as individual schools, school districts, and federal education structures) and to the essential relationships among the system's parts. The federal role in education, elements of a rational approach to change, strategies for measurement and analysis, and assumptions underlying RESP are considered. A descriptive analysis of the scope of the program's implementation is offered, as are discussions of how structuring authority affected implementation. Implications of the results of RESP for the design and management of other education change programs are discussed. (NEC)