This paper presents the findings of a field study designed to examine the management information system (MIS) of an urban school district to determine the role it plays in bringing about educational change in the classroom. The MIS as a type of "guidance system" for change is made up of three specific information loops and a control mechanism which acts on the information. It was found that the school district studied lacked an operative MIS. Although a number of important components were present, they were continually breaking down. Through a series of propositions, the writers point out the character of the organizational forces that exclude the existence of a functioning MIS and therefore greatly reduce the possibility of systematic, planned change in the high school. (Author)