This report was prepared as part of the School Organization Program, a program focusing on authority-control structures, task structures, reward systems, and peer group processes in schools. It contains five papers delivered at an American Education Research Association Symposium. The papers examine current research on the effects of school organization and social contexts. The presentations emphasize different definitions of major school organization of contextual elements (reward, authority, and demographic structures), different causal mechanisms for school effects (reinforcement, participation, and reference group theories), as well as methodological issues that crosscut various research approaches (consideration of person-environment interactions and the choice of student outcomes as dependent variables). Included are "Building an Effective Classroom Reward Structure" by Robert E. Slavin, "School Authority Systems and Student Motivation," by James M. McPartland, "Social Network Models and Social Demography Theories" by Nancy L. Karweit, "Family and School Interactions and Main Effects on Non-Academic Outcomes" by Joyce L. Epstein, and "Differential Educational Payoff Models and Theories of the Diversity of Human Talents" by Linda S. Gottfredson. Two discussions of the papers conclude the report, one by Sarane S. Boocock and another by Wilbur B. Brookover. (Author/JM)