It’s a familiar story: A cycle of mutually reinforcing and often self-defeating conditions shapes the schooling of young people in the nation’s cities. A diverse and historically underserved student population struggles with academic learning and social adjustment in a context of limited resources. Support for staff efforts or special student needs is also limited, making it harder to attract and retain qualified staff, thereby reducing the morale of the staff who do remain — all feeding a continuing pattern of chronic low performance. Then locate this cycle in the crucible of high-stakes accountability and a press for learning improvement that has wide backing from the public. While well-intended, such pressures may not always have the desired effect of motivating and producing greater effort and higher