Six urban school districts (Chattanooga, Tennessee, Corpus Christi, Texas, Long Beach, California, Louisville, Kentucky, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and San Diego, California) have been pursuing standard-based reform at the middle school level accepting systemic reform as the norm. This report provides descriptions of their approaches, and commentary on the lessons they are learning in the process. The six districts have set content and performance standards under broad guidelines from the Clark Foundation, but they are pursuing reforms to suit their own needs and capacities. The documentation and commentary in this report was gathered over 18 months during several visits to one school in each district, a school selected for special help because of poor academic results. These focus schools are examples of efforts throughout each district, and they provide a closeup of the classrooms in which middle school teachers are trying to transform learning and teaching for students who need such changes the most. (SLD)