Research has found that effective schools can be distinguished from less successful counterparts by five characteristics. These are: strong instructional leadership; high expectations for all students to learn; an orderly and positive learning environment; a carefully developed instructional focus; and regular measurement of student learning. Based on these findings, the administrators and teachers of the Little Axe School District, Oklahoma, embarked on an extensive school-improvement program. In 1988-89, they established committees to address the five correlates of effective schools; attended staff development sessions to study the correlates; and developed objectives. During the following 2 school years, staff continued their training; developed an after-school alternative program for suspended students; and implemented a curriculum mapping project. District administrators asked researchers from the University of Oklahoma to examine the impact of the building principal on the effective schools process underway at each of the schools. "Shadowers" followed each principal and the superintendent for an entire day and were privy to all of the day's happenings, making notes of all dialogue with faculty and students (numerous direct quotations are included in the paper). The workload of administrators seemed to be overwhelming. Administrators cited lack of time and maintaining good communication with staff and parents as their chief concerns. Evaluation of the school-improvement program also included interviews with selected staff and students and the administration of the Leadership Practices Inventory to administrators and selected staff. (SV)