The "David" is Fern Creek Elementary, a small urban school in Orlando, Florida, that serves an overwhelmingly disadvantaged student population. The "Goliaths" are the mountains of problems that many inner-city students face--poverty, homelessness, mobility, instability, limited parent involvement, and violent neighborhood surroundings. Although Fern Creek's "war" with these Goliaths is ongoing, the school has won some major battles. Several years ago, Fern Creek put into place a process of defeating its Goliaths by arming its slingshot with three big rocks. The first rock was creating a strong school family. The school implemented consistent routines, Conscious Discipline practices, and school family rituals. The second rock was increasing community involvement. Here, the school looked to important community partnerships; a 100-member-strong mentoring program; and a foundation created expressly to meet the needs of the school, its students, and their families. The third rock was implementing best practices in instruction and intervention. This required a focus on Response to Intervention, professional learning communities, and lesson study.