A need to provide more data about the impact of schools on children in terms of manipulable variables prompted an examination of the relationship between school organization and student aspirations for further education. A causal model is examined which would enable investigation of the mechanism by which school contexts could alter aspiration. Data was collected from 17 tenth grade classes in Ontario. Variables measured by questionnaires are summarized for success, social class, type of program, aspiration for further education, bureaucratization, and alienation. A series of regression models ascertained the effect of schools and school bureaucratization on student aspiration levels. A causal model arrived at through path analysis showed the direction of causal influence felt to operate, reduce or raise the aspiration levels of students. Tentative conclusions state that the impact of differences between schools on educational aspirations is very small once the influence of individual characteristics have been partialled out. Path analysis was felt to offer a useful means of getting at the effect of school variables. The conclusion suggests research in the area of the effects of school environments by studying patterns of interaction between variables. Tables and references are included. (Author/KSM)