The big clock in Dowan McNair-Lee's 8th grade classroom in the Stuart-Hobson Middle School is silent, but she can hear the minutes ticking away nonetheless. On this day, like any other, the clock is a constant reminder of how little time she has to prepare her students--for spring tests, and for high school and all that lies beyond it. The District of Columbia, where she's taught for 11 years, was quick to adopt the Common Core State Standards. Putting them into practice, however, demands a heavy lift. With their emphasis on mastery of complex text, the standards require far stronger literacy skills than most students here--and many in the 46 states that also adopted the common core in English--currently possess. Serving mostly disadvantaged children, the school system in the nation's capital faces an especially steep climb as it implements the new standards. This article describes the steps this school district has taken to reorganize in light of the new standards.