The baseline study reported here is just one research activity carried out as a part of the EdQual Leadership and Management of Change for Quality Improvement project. This is a five year (2005- 2010) comparative cross-national study of primary schools in Ghana and Tanzania and just one of five large scale projects conducted by the Research Programme Consortium on Education Quality in Low Income Countries, which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The EdQual Leadership and Management of Change (L&M) project aims to generate new knowledge that will:  Inform our understanding of effective practices of leading and managing change to improve education quality within disadvantaged communities particularly in Ghana, Tanzania and Pakistan;  Identify effective leadership and management indicators necessary for enhancing the effectiveness of schools and communities to fight poverty; make education relevant to sustainable development; fight HIV/AIDS; promote inclusion of marginalised individuals and groups in teaching and learning activities; ensure gender equity, maintain quality teaching and learning; and  Develop school self-evaluation tools for use by schools in disadvantaged contexts in Ghana and Tanzania.