This study initiates an exploratory research effort to determine styles of planning processes actually used and recommended for use by public school districts and relates these styles to selected school district characteristics. Year-round education was selected as the vehicle for the study. Specific objectives of the study include identifying actual and ideal planning styles of school districts that have implemented year-round programs; and determining the relationship between variables (size of district, type of district, wealth of district, racial composition of district, type of calendar, number of different referent groups involved in the planning process, length of planning time, individual or group assuming primary responsibility for planning, amount of budget for planning, primary goal established for year-round programs) and actual and ideal planning styles. A copy of the year-round educational planning survey instrument is included in the appendix. (Author/DN)