Book excerpt: This book explores the connections between school-based management, school effectiveness and school improvement, bringing together studies completed in Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the USA. It describes and analyses how effective principals and teachers perceive and undertake educational change and school-based management; how a sense of values, vision and school culture can improve leadership; ways in whcih delegating financial management to schools may lead to improved teaching and learning; and the contribution made by school development planning through reviews and evaluation to school improvement. Finally, it suggests future directions for study and research in school effectiveness, school improvement and school-based management.