All educators strive to lift the achievement of their students. Educational researchers aim to assist in this effort by identifying the initiatives that are most likely to yield sustainable improvements in student performance.

This study aims to examine the key drivers of improvement in NSW government schools that have shown high growth in student outcomes over time. High growth schools were identified using a robust value-added methodology that isolates the contribution that a school makes to growth in student achievement while controlling for important contextual factors that may influence student performance.