This report describes how partnerships between educators and the community are helping improve education in Ghana. Though the basic education program, Improving Learning through Partnerships (ILP), Ghana is strengthening its educational foundation by using master teachers to help improve basic skills instruction and by involving parents and other community members in the educational process. ILP acknowledges that learning achievement depends upon many players within and outside of the educational system. In introductory workshops, ILP staff help partners recognize their common goals. Participants (educators, local government officials, PTA and school management committee members, and traditional leaders) draft school improvement plans that are shared with the broader community for their contribution. This report discusses challenges to ILP efforts, describes effective schools, and examines elements that have impacted learning in Ghana, highlighting ILP's strengths and effective strategies. It looks at appreciative inquiry as a methodology and philosophy for effective teaching, examines the role and importance of visits from master teachers, and explains reinforcement and follow-uup activities used between visits from master teachers. Finally, the report discusses community empowerment, examining community-school improvement plans and changes in school infrastructure. (SM)