A formal organization is, “a system of conciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons” and for the existence of the organization, either “effectiveness” or “efficiency” is necessary (Barnard, 1982, p. 81-82). An organization is effective if it realizes it goals and objectives and efficient if it satisfies the needs and expectations of its members. Organizations are purposeful and goal-oriented (Gibson and others, 1997, p. 329). Organizational “effectiveness” is related to the organizational structure. An organization’ s structure is the formal pattern of activities and interrelationships among the various subunits of the organization. An aspect of the organizational structure; organizational design; which refers to the overall organizational structure includes structure of tasks, authority, and interpersonal relationships. (Gibson and others, 1997, p. 11) Bureaucratic structure is one method of structuring formal organizations which realize their goals to be effective. Weber’ s classic principals are guidelines which organizations prefer to follow when developing their formal structures (Miller, 1990). Schools are formal organizations with many of the same characteristics as bureaucratic organizations (Hoy and Miskel, 1996, p. 47) and the structural element of the school as social system is found in its formal organization. Max Weber’ s (1947) classic analysis of bureaucracy is a good beginning point of the organizational structures of schools. Almost all modern organizations, including schools, have the characteristics enumerated by Weber: a division of labor and specialization, an impersonal orientation, a hierarchy of authority, rules and regulations, and a career orientation (Hoy and Miskel, 1996, p. 47). Many researchers and educators have attempted to define the concept of school effectiveness. Wynne (1981, in: Warych, 1992) suggests that effective schools are those which strive for inclusion of all members of the school organizational community. Guidelines for acceptable behavior and academic performance are clear and consistent (Warych, 1992). So, academic performance, or student academic achievement is somewhat related to school effectiveness. Eventhough there are several effectiveness criteria for schools, the student growth and development or student achievement has an important concern among these criteria (Lezotte, 1991; Edmonds, 1982; Hopkins, 1999). So, it can be said that the bureacratic structure of schools and student academic achievement are some of the criterias of schools effectiveness In examining the relationship between the bureaucratization level of schools and student achievement in the related literature; although some work has been done, relatively very little research has been managed to determine about this relationship. Besides, there has been found no research in the related topic done in Turkey. This study is significant because it directly deals with the relationship between the bureaucratization level of schools and student academic achievement. And it’ s expected that this research will contribute to the related literature. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the relationships between the elementary schools’ bureaucratization level and student achievement. For this purpose the following research question were developed: “What are the relationships between elementary schools’ bureaucratization level and student academic achievement measured by National High Schools Entrance Exam?

The sample of this survey is composed of nearly 420 elementary school teachers and approximately 3110 elementary school students. The sample has been selected by stratified random sampling technique. The data about the bureacratization level of schools were collected by administering “Elementary Schools Bureaucracy Level Scale” (ESBL) to the elementary school teachers developed by Ermec (2007). The instrument is able to measure the bureaucratization level of schools according to a single dimension. The student academic achievement has been determined according to their scores taken from National High School Entrance Exam. The compulsory National High School Entrance Exam is taken by junior high school students in order to be accepted by senior high schools. According to the scores they obtain, students are allowed to register senior high school including technical and vocational, public or private high schools. The scores taken from National High School Entrance Exam (2007) has been considered as student academic achievement In order to analyze the data collected; the statistical techniques such as t-test, correlation and one way analysis of variance anova will be used.

In the study, it’s expected to be a positive significant relationship between the bureaucratization level of schools and student achievement. In other words, when the bureaucratization level of school is high, the student academic achievement is expected to be high as well and this relationship is expected to be significant