The California elementary schools, middle grades schools and high schools that Springboard Schools studied over the past three years are different in many ways. But the idea that every school, every teacher, and every student is unique, while true, masks important commonalities. One striking finding from three years of investigation of high performing, high poverty schools in California is how much these schools have in common. High poverty schools setting the pace for student achievement have found and applied a few key strategies to enable teachers to do their best work. At every grade level, high performing schools focus on creating the conditions for systems which support good teaching accessible to every student to be the norm in every classroom. Systems, such as: the use of consistent and challenging curriculum paired with frequent diagnostic tests; investing in teachers and systematic processes of improvement such as the identification and systematic implementation of best practices at multiple levels of the system; and providing flexible, differentiated support to students even as they work toward a common set of standards. Exact strategies may vary by school and district, but three commonalities exist, the intensity of the change effort, the coherence of the effort and sustaining focus overtime. This study, engaging in interviews with district leaders, school leaders, teachers and students at ten high performing and ten average performing middle grades schools, finds that average-performing districts and schools are using many of the same individual programs and general strategies as are high-performers. But a closer look reveals that what matters for improving teaching and learning is not just a particular strategies, but rather differences in intensity, differences in coherence; and differences in focus and willingness to stay the course, that is, to sustain focus over time. This paper discusses the impact of the middle school movement, and standards and accountability on these schools and highlights the systems schools and district use, the choices made by schools and districts, and how to balance student social-emotional needs with their school type in order to best prepare students for high school. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]