The purpose of this study was to identify those practices and challenges of leading schools forrnimprovement in secondary schools of North Shoa Zone. To carry out this study descriptivernsurvey method was employed. Participants of the study were 180 teachers, 13 principals, andrn7supervisor. They involved in the study being selected using simple random sampling andrnpurposive sampling methods. The data were collected by using a questionnaire, interview, andrndocument analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis method were employed inrnorder to reach to the results. Data obtained through questionnaire were analyzed andrnsummarized using statistical package for the social science (SPSS Version 24.0) softwarernanalysis. Statistical tools such as frequency count, percentage, mean and standard deviation,rnwere calculated. The finding of the study indicate that the school leader need to be independentrnand free to make decisions with guideline of leading: assignment of leading school forrnimprovement based on talent, knowledge qualities or know how needed, the school leadersrnshould be valuable at the top level of management by successful chief executive. Thus, thernconcerned bodies need to assign school leaders with attributes such as decisiveness,rnassertiveness, integrity, enthusiasm, imagination, willingness to work hard, analytical ability,rnunderstanding others, abilities to create opportunities for good governance and handingrndiversity and practical implementation of secularism. Besides, ability to meet unpleasantrnsituations, ability to adopt to quickly to change and willingness to task risks, the school leadersrnneed to be educated enough to gather, synthesize and interpret large amount of information andrnneed to be able to create vision, mission, solve problem and make objective or rational decisionrnbased on fact and reasoning, the school leaders should be those who have deep knowledge andrnbe able to make well-informed decisions and able to understand the implications of the decisionsrnand extraversions. Finally, the government and academic institute should design policy orrncurriculum and criteria of selecting trance leaders which enable the school leaders be equippedrnwith the necessary and successful leading schools for improvement.