This one-of-a-kind book takes readers beyond thinking about school improvement to leading the process of creating excellent learning environments. Beginning with fundamental principles of school leadership for grades K-12, the book demonstrates how action research and published studies can work hand-in-hand to explain the nature of student achievement gaps and the reasons that underlie them. Using examples from education leadership classrooms, research, and practice, the authors bring to life the processes of problem identification and diagnosis, developing solutions, and project implementation and evaluation. -- -This text presents a step-by-step approach to problem diagnosis and school improvement. -- -Numerous activities and discussion topics help an individual create critical documents such as an improvement target proposal, a research brief, and a school improvement project proposal. -- -A focus on using a deliberate process of thorough problem diagnosis helps readers avoid the common syndrome of adopting off-the-shelf "best practices" that may not fit the actual challenges faced in a reader's school or school district. -- -Practical guidelines are provided for putting together a collaborative team and thinking about how non-team members should collaborate on different levels. -- -Links to national standards help readers align with standards as they plan and implement their school improvement projects. --Book Jacket.