This article deals with the method of Socio-cultural Situation (SCS) Analysis. This method is used to design development strategies and models of school education in districts and cities. Four classic types of SCS are determined: “a school in a cultural center”, “a school in a former cultural center”, “a school in a potential cultural center”, “a school in a cultural desert”. A number of intermediate complex SCS are described: “a socio-cultural break”, “an unidentifi ed pedagogical object”, “a rural school, a center of socio-economic initiatives”, etc. Diff erent types of situations require diff erent strategies for education development: traditional school strategies linked to the changes in the socio-cultural environment or to the revival of local cultural and historical traditions, strategies of communal education, innovative strategies, and socio-educational strategies. The article presents a technique of diagnostics and analysis of the SCS of a given school or a municipal education system. A variety of types and categories of developing education systems is described. This provides a cultural fi eld for the analysis and design of a particular school education model in a given region.