This study examined whether context and other variables differentiated between improving and stable Louisiana schools. Participating were principals of 124 improving and 124 stable schools, with a final response rate to a mail survey of 69 percent. The School Improvement Survey, developed for this study, assessed six areas: (1) demographic and school characteristics; (2) basic school information collected by the Louisiana Department of Education such as faculty size and student daily attendance; (3) site-based management information; (4) external change processes; (5) internal conditions and potential for innovation; and (6) new initiatives for improvement. Among the major findings were: (1) there was a higher percentage of African American principals in improving than in stable schools; (2) improving schools with low SES student populations had the highest suspension rates; (3) principals of low SES indicated more shared decision making than those in middle SES schools; (4) more rural/town and urban fringe schools than metropolitan schools indicated that the goal of change is to make school a better place for children to learn, while more metropolitan schools indicated that the goal is to improve schools and professionalism; (5) there were more staff development programs initiated internally in the past 4 years in improving than in stable schools; and (6) there was greater district monitoring of the results of school improvement attempts in improving than in stable schools. (Eighteen tables delineate findings. An appendix contains the School Improvement Survey. Contains 69 references.) (KB)