In the United States, one of the well-known school reform models is the Accelerated Schools Project (ASP) originated by Henry Levin. This article attempts to describe the implementation of this project in a sample of schools in Hong Kong. We investigate the differential progress in four case study schools with reference to leadership, teacher collaboration and other factors. Where the schools made little progress, the principals tended to be authoritarian, providing little empowerment to teachers and ignoring teachers' views. In the two schools which made relatively good progress, the principals were rather more `empowering'.
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