During the fall of 1985, the New York Alliance for the Public Schools, in cooperation with the New York City Board of Education, sponsored this study of 14 New York City public junior high schools which had shown significant improvement in reading and attendance over a five-year period (1980-85). The goal of the study was to identify changes in school organization, climate, curriculum, evaluation and administration which had contributed to this improvement. The study focused on the principal, since research has shown that the principal makes a great difference in the strength of the school's programs; the ability of staff to muster resources; and the impact of the climate, instruction and incentive system on pupil achievement. The research team identified the following five sets of activities, which principals at these schools were engaged in and which promoted academic achievement: (1) creating a working concept of the school as an institution, within which they exert leadership and improve access to external resources; (2) building an appropriate school program with focus, structure, and curriculum; (3) "selling" the school, often "magnetizing" it to draw good students and staff; (4) building and improving the teaching force and support staff; and (5) arranging the school as a system which builds expectations, consequences and rewards for achievement. A major purpose of the study was to provide material for a series of workshops to assist in school inprovement efforts. A pilot workshop focusing on dropout prevention was held on May 13, 1986, at Fordham University. A summary and evaluation of the workshop are included. (PS)