Focus of this study of leadership is the West Philadelphia Community Free School designed as an alternative within public school education in one of Philadelphia's predominantly black school districts. (Authors/MB)

Three categories of structural characteristics (career processes, role relationships, organizational context) associated with the principal's role shape behavior in ways that restrain the rate at which principals initiate change. (IAH)

For this study, middle-school teachers, students, and principals completed surveys on organizational climate, quality of life, and use of recommended middle-school practices. Student attitudes toward school life were only slightly affected by openness in faculty relationships; they were more affected by classroom organization and use of accepted…