The School Improvement Program (SIP) was implemented in 5 Columbus (Ohio) public schools during the 1982-83 school year, 18 public schools during the 1983-84 school year, 26 public schools during the 1984-85 school year, and 15 public schools during the 1985-86 school year. The objective of SIP was to improve the academic achievement of students in basic skills, particularly in reading comprehensive and mathematics computation. This achievement was to be raised by implementing crucial school effectiveness factors such as a strong sense of mission, strong instructional leadership, high expectations for students and staff, frequent monitoring of pupil progress, a positive learning climate, sufficient opportunity for learning to take place and parent/community involvement in the school program. Before and after the program, Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills were administered to measure student progress. A needs assessment survey was prepared, and locally constructed forms, surveys and checklists were used to collect the data. The results showed that students' changes in achievement were slightly greater than expected in reading comprehension, and growth in mathematics computation was substantial (25.8 percent more of the pupils at grade level after the program). Pupils from lower income families continued to score lower. Appendices include needs assessment survey factor profiles for elementary and middle schools, graphs of factor profiles for each level, comparison of various scores to the normal curve, chronology of inservice for SIP academy and schools, inservice evaluation form, parent survey form, and parents survey analysis for combined middle schools and combined elementary schools. (JAZ)