Given that the context of school work is not to be underestimated with regard to learning and performance development of pupils, the question how schools can deal with challenging circumstances has become unavoidable. Challenging circumstances arise from being located in a social hotspot, where opportunities for children and teenagers are decreased by precarious living conditions (e.g. unemployment, job insecurity, low educational success, emigration of educated and qualified people). Schools in these areas are more likely to be confronted with pupils who speak German badly, whose parents cannot or will not encourage and support them, who often have problematic school careers as well as social behavior problems and whose achievements are below average.

Nevertheless, some schools work efficiently, despite these challenging circumstances. The work of those schools that succeed in developing individual strategies to overcome disadvantageous conditions has attracted increasing attention worldwide, including Germany. It is crucial to make lasting improvements (which is especially difficult in schools in economically weak areas). However, information on how to achieve these lasting improvements is rare. Based on school and organisation development models as well as empirical evidence on the characteristics of 'improving schools', this study aims to analyse the process features of prosperous school development in schools in challenging circumstances.

The main objective is to elaborate the parameters that make it possible for those schools to work successfully despite their unfavourable conditions. At this, the study especially considers the development of instruction, leadership and management, internal communication and cooperation structures, and the use of external support structures and networks. Here we investigate which types of teaching and learning are appropriate for the compensation of deficits (the so-called ‘Compensatory Model’), how parents and the neighbourhood can be integrated into the learning and educational process and in how far these ‘unexpectedly good’ schools can be characterized as a professional learning community. The investigation of these characteristics is embedded within a contingency approach of organizational development.

The analysis is based on a multi-perspective reconstruction of school development strategies in the selected cases of four schools that – against the expectations – managed to attain good learning and performance outcomes and four schools that had poor learning and performance outcomes, as expected. Such a sample allows for a contrasting comparison of schools that start from comparable disadvantageous conditions, but differ with regard to the results and effects of their work.

The project presented is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and aims at contributing to the support of schools in challenging circumstances. First results will be presented within the planned poster presentation.

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