For decades, both state and national officials have complained that U.S. school children are not learning as much as they should, and these critics typically presuppose that the problem is school based. They are, in a sense, fixating on one element of a complex system, while ignoring the fact that the problem might be caused by external factors. Frontline teachers know that what goes on outside school either limits or enhances school success. Nonschool factors matter greatly, and a child's home life is a key element in school success or failure. In this article, the author points out that nonschool issues will have to be addressed to achieve significantly more learning. He asserts that public schooling does not operate in a vacuum. It is deeply and ineluctably influenced both by who goes to school and by what they bring along as "baggage."