A theoretical framework for mapping school political life is developed which distinguishes elite, bureaucratic, coalitional, and participant types of school political organizations. The framework provides tools for analyzing and comparing patterns of political behavior within and across school political behavior settings. Definitions and conceptual dimensional analyses are discussed for seven school political phenomena: political influence, wealth, ideology, decision-making, leadership, participation, and communication. An analysis which arrays expected patterns of these political phenomena across school political organization types links the concepts under study. Finally, implications are drawn from the theoretical framework for the empirical study of school political life and suggestions are made for the use of the perceptions gained from the study. (Author/JH)