Columbus Preparatory Academy (CPA) was a school in Academic Emergency and in jeopardy of being closed in 2007. In 2016, CPA was ranked "Excellent with Distinction" and has been the top-ranked academic school for five consecutive years. There have been many "how-to" books written about how to turn schools around, but few schools, if any, have ever gone from closure status to the overall top-ranked school in the state. This capstone is a step-by-step procedure taken by the researcher and his staff to turn the school around. Existing literature on this subject is about tips or tricks school leaders can use to improve in one area, but seldom do the authors go the extra step in explaining what to do once an obstacle is overcome. The CPA case study will examine what the researcher and staff did on a yearly basis, challenges they faced, a review of academic data, finance and demographics. CPA is a charter school in Columbus, Ohio considered by the government to be an inner-city school, and CPA is in Columbus, which is considered part of the "big 8" allowing for charter schools to be opened. CPA was school-wide Title 1 in 2016 and had a population with 58% free and reduced lunch. CPA opened in 2004 and had six different school leaders until the summer of 2007 when Mosaica, the educational management organization (EMO) hired the researcher, a principal and superintendent from Kentucky, to turn the school around. The researcher and staff began a school transformation to change the culture of CPA both behaviorally and academically, but soon CPA turned into the highest academic achieving school in the history of Ohio. CPA has been ranked the number one academic school for the past five years in the state of Ohio: this is their story. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]