This study focused on how successful Indiana charter schools implemented their planned goals and how their instructional strategies supported sound, research-based practices for improving student achievement. After identifying the three charter schools that consistently earned Indiana's academic designation of "exemplary progress" over a three-year period, the authors then conducted classroom walk-throughs in each of the schools. They adapted the classroom walk-through model created by Downey, Steffy, English, Frase, and Poston (2004) to focus their observations. The walk-through model consists of two- to five-minute observations in classrooms, focusing primarily on three key components for improving student achievement: student engagement, the curriculum or content being taught (and the level at which it is being taught), along with the instructional practices employed in the classroom. When observers use this model as a formative assessment, it is possible for them to detect emerging patterns after several visits to classrooms. For the purposes of this research, patterns in each school were sought, not only patterns within an individual classroom. The analysis of that observational data illuminated the factors that most contributed to these schools' effectiveness. (Contains 4 notes.)