Contingency theory is perhaps the most powerful current sweeping over the public and private sectors of management. An understanding of the "situational" characteristics of the organizational forces that influence the relationships between environmental, management, and performance variables is now coming to be seen as a key to under standing the management process itself. Unfortunately, the field of educational administration has yet to become extensively involved. Focus in this paper is given to an identification and analysis of (1) the basic assumptions underpinning contingency theory, and (2) the contin gent nature of organizational structure, leadership, and planning variables. The objective is to build a conceptual framework that will be a useful tool in providing greater facility for description, analysis, and prediction in educational organizations. The paper concludes with a series of research questions intended to establish lines of investigation for the field of school organization and administration.