In the first part of the paper, Dess and Beard’s ( 1984) model of the organizational environment is formalized and arguments on linearity and non-linearity in the environment-performance relationship developed. Measures of performance, along with archival and perceptual measures of environmental munificence, complexity, and dynamism are then identified and described. The results of statistical models of the environmental determinants of performance in over 500 Texas school districts are presented, before the findings are discussed and conclusions drawn for theories of organizational performance.