Context: Urban school districts have gone through countless reform efforts to no avail. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) has developed a model that has the potential to be a game changer in laying the foundation for student success. Purpose: This article explores how one district used the model and targeted administrators as their nexus of change. Intervention: ESE used a research-based approach to provide turnaround expertise and hold failing districts accountable for improvement. Each district was to develop and implement with support and monitoring, a plan known as the accelerated improvement plan, which became a blueprint for the change process. Data Collection: Data was collected through monthly three-hour meetings and 12 full-day observations of instruction and meetings. Data was made public through quarterly progress reports posted on the ESE website and shared with the School Board and the public through local television. Findings: The district chose to center their early change initiatives on building the capacity of school and district administrators. Critical to the plan's effectiveness was ongoing monitoring and feedback by ESE, since the failure of many change efforts is due to the inability of school districts to effectively self analyze and adjust practice which can lead to a lack of effective implementation. Conclusions/Recommendations: The process mapped out an aligned "through-line" of changed routines and practices. Through-line is defined as changes at the district level resulting in changes at the school level, and, in turn, at the classroom level. Ultimately, that means that the lack of success at the student level is the result of insufficient improvement at the classroom level, the school level, and the district leadership and governance level. This is a promising process that could lead to substantial improvement in student achievement in underperforming districts.