This paper represents the findings of a field study designed to examine the management information system of an urban school district to determine the role it plays in (1) bringing about educational change in the classroom, and (2) drawing the district into a closer balance of systems bond with those organizations that receive and depend on the manpower output of the high school. 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 most respected school district studied had no operative MIS, although a number of the important components were present but were continually breaking down. Through a series of propositions, the author points out the character of the organizational forces that exclude the existence of a functioning MIS and therefore greatly reduce the possibility of systematic change in the high school. (Author)