The insights of various theoretical perspectives on school improvement can be integrated in a common framework called "the institutional perspective" when the sensitivity of each theoretical perspective to the nature of decision making for school improvement is taken into account. The institutional perspective thus generated considers the organizational characteristics of the institution in which decisions are made; the organizational roles, perceptions, resources, and priorities of those making the decisions; and the need to adapt school improvement processes to accommodate the characteristics of the decision-making process. The main policy implication of the integrated institutional perspective is that to be successful, school improvement efforts must be educationally and administratively robust. That is, the program must meet major educational needs simply and effectively and must be able to withstand competition from other organizational objectives and pressures in terms of their suitability to the administrative operations of the organization. This document examines the ways in which several theoretical perspectives are integrated into the institutional perspective, discusses the principle of educational and administrative robustness, and applies the principle to improvement efforts in the areas of curriculum change, organizational improvement, teacher improvement and evaluation, proceduralization, urban education, and school site autonomy. (PGD)