Education minister Huw Lewis praised the work of staff and students involved in the Schools Challenge Cymru which he said was "delivering real and unprecedented improvements".
The Welsh government said early indications had shown that the majority of the 40 schools participating in the challenge had seen an increase in their GCSE results after just one year of additional support.
The participating schools are being collectively supported by up to £20 million of extra funding along with an individually tailored programme of support.
Of the 40 Challenge schools, around two thirds have reported an improvement in the number of their pupils gaining five or more A* to C GCSEs this summer.
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