Researchers have identified effective practices that allow schools to "beat the odds" and close the reading achievement gap. Although identifying these practices is important, researchers have paid little attention to the work it takes to implement them. Through interviews with teachers who work at schools identified as beating the odds, this research documents the amount of work it takes to implement effective practices and demonstrates that this extraordinarily time-consuming work is difficult to sustain and not easily replicated. Therefore, experts must not rely on these practices alone to close the reading achievement gap. (Contains 5 footnotes.)