The initial conceptualization and subsequent development of the Effective Schools Pilot Project in the Kansas City (Missouri) Public Schools is described in this paper. Five K-6 schools and one school containing a kindergarten and grades 5 and 6 were the locus for the project that involved school-site teams working in collaboration with both central office personnel and consultants from outside the district to develop a plan based on the school improvement literature. Six components were identified in the project's scope of activity: (1) curriculum alignment, (2) instruction, (3) leadership, (4) expectations, (5) school climate, and (6) parent involvement. The goals guiding the project were based on a broad objective to improve opportunities for academic success for students in project schools. Project development is described in month-by-month detail. Important factors distinguishing this project from others that had been attempted in the district were the interest of the superintendent and the facts that the intervention was planned by the school site personnel, directed by the district, and based on both site generated data and the literature on school improvement. Accompanying the text are a four-page bibliography, tables that profile the selected schools and summarize the school improvement survey, and five pages of project information material. (MLF)