Superintendents and principals can have a positive and decisive impact on student achievement and higher graduation rates. Their essential leadership can illuminate the path to excellence for faculty and students. In upgrading curriculum and instruction, school leaders need to keep abreast of practices proven effective in other districts and states. Many schools are making progress by adopting initiatives such as the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC). Those schools and others are introducing project-based learning to engage students more actively and are strengthening advisory and extra-help programs to assist students with their studies. Sometimes the next step for a school is to organize teachers into interdisciplinary teams and/or to revise grading practices to give students more than one chance to exhibit understanding. For schools wanting to do their best for first-generation students, Boys Town has some suggestions that have proven effective. The outstanding practices presented in this newsletter will answer many questions from school leaders and teachers as schools step up their efforts to ensure all students are college- and career-ready.