Summary

This report presents case studies of 12 schools that participated in the evaluation of the Staffing, Management and Accountability components of the Low Socio Economic Status School Communities National Partnership (Low SES NP). The schools were responsible for implementing a range of initiatives and the case studies are based primarily on interviews with school principals, members of the school executive, teachers and other key staff. All schools established new or modified leadership positions and provided professional learning opportunities for teachers. While schools were unable to rank initiatives in terms of impact, discussions with all case study schools suggested that some initiatives were particularly important: establishing leadership, strategic and specialist positions, provision of professional learning and development opportunities, employing paraprofessional and school support staff, implementing team-based approaches and provision of innovative opportunities for students to learn.