This report evaluates the initial year of a project implemented in 15 elementary and 5 junior high schools in Cleveland in support of the schools' efforts to install effective school procedures designed to upgrade students' basic skills and academic achievement. The report deals with the following areas: (1) district support for the project; (2) the schools involved; (3) a definition of effective schools; (4) the evaluation plan; (5) the activities designed and implemented by the schools to improve their effectiveness; (6) the organizational and behavioral processes that emerged in support of the school improvement effort; (7) the success in attaining program objectives; (8) a comparison of reading achievement in project schools with selected indices of effectiveness and with nonproject schools; (9) effective school characteristics and school improvement indicators; and (10) the implications of this evaluation, together with 10 recommendations to ensure continued progress in the project schools. Nine appendices contain: (1) summary of principal and teacher interviews; (2) 2-year comparisons of reading and mathematics tests; secondary school grades; average daily membership; poverty rates; teachers' average days of absence; and average daily attendance rate by race, grade, and sex; (3) ECIA Chapter 1 projects; (4) summary of t-test results, pre- and post-survey means and analyses of variance for project schools; (5) and (6) summary of analyses of variance and co-variance for project and nonproject schools (1981-82, 1982-83, and 1983-84); (7) and (8) summary of t-tests, for project and nonproject schools (1982-83, and 1983-84); and (9) selected school climate indices, project and nonproject schools. (RDN)