ABSTRACT
The eight schools of the SFECC research were chosen primarily by virtue of their low levels of attainment, the disadvantaged neighbourhoods in which they were sited and what was deemed to be strong leadership, resilient in the face of adversity. In each of these schools there were headteachers seen as capable of turning their schools around. Over a period of three years a Cambridge team followed these eight schools, collecting both attainment and attitudinal data, in the case of young people primarily from focus group interviews. Their voice played an important part in evaluation which is described in the third paper in this volume.
