Leaders in schools with grades 5 to 8 face unprecedented responsibilities in working with young adolescents. As schools respond to the mandates of No Child Left Behind, more than half of the students tested annually will be enrolled in these middle grades. This means that the success or failure rate of schools nationwide will be largely determined by the competencies of middle-grades students. Yet, even after a decade of surging interest in this group, there remains a great deal of confusion about how middle-grades schools can most effectively serve their students.