The School Improvement Grants Program is a British Columbia-based action research project to support efforts to raise literacy and math skills in public schools serving low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods. The program--which provides $25,000 in planning and implementation grants for each participating school over 2.5 years--began in 2001 and has just complete its first cycle of seven schools. Although effects were noted in the domains of teacher learning, staff collaboration, teacher professional development and parental involvement, preliminary findings have not yielded significant improvements in student outcomes. This research highlights some of the challenges of using action research to improve student learning. (Contains 2 notes.)