NOTE 59p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the

ABSTRACT 1 This study examines the role of the high school as a political environment in which students may acquire experiences which contribute to the development of their political competence. The csaper explains the objectives of the study, discusses the methods used, describes the schools in which data were,gathered, reports the findings, and identifies areas for future study. Specifically examined is the relationship of political attitudes to participation in school groups and to the types of participation students engage in within groups., Also examined are differences in the political characteristics among groups that may have an impact on the experiences students have within groups and on the skills they develop. And finally, sing,: both school size and social/economic OLatus-A-SEIO have been lifted with attitudes and participation, the effect of these variables is explored. Thirteen secondary schools i