The change in academic achievement at B. F. Terry High School in Rosenberg, Texas, over the last four years is proudly displayed on the outside of the building with the sign that proclaims it a Texas School of Distinction, but it's the change in attitude inside of the school that's most striking. A growing majority of the school's students live in poverty in this urban/suburban community near Houston. Four years ago, student achievement was marginal. Teachers blamed the students, and the students blamed their circumstances. A number of things happened to reverse the school culture and foster achievement. A new principal and the leadership team took a look at the "brutal facts." After reviewing the data, they decided to stop the blame game and unanimously agreed that by improving teachers' skills, they could control what happened in the school. The team went to the faculty members, who also agreed that there would be a change--their accountability would be to their students and to one another. To begin, every teacher wrote a personal commitment statement that was posted next to their mailboxes, a practice that continues. Today, students meet with teachers before school, teachers greet students at the classroom door, and students create and post social contracts for their classes to make their accountability to one another clear.