Kristen Campbell Wilcox has published widely on systems approaches to school improvement and culturally responsive pedagogies that support diverse learners' success in school. Her research focuses, in particular, on cross-school and -district practices and policies that affect students' experiences and learning opportunities in the classroom. Hal Lawson's published research regularly crosses boundaries between education, social welfare, and public health. This interdisciplinary approach reflects his long-standing interest in vulnerable, diverse children who need new school designs because they reside in challenging places. Janet Angelis began her career in the classroom and has devoted the major part of it to linking the worlds of research and practice. She has authored or coauthored numerous articles for practitioners, researchers, and the public, including three books.

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Three policy innovations at the heart of this book - the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), new Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR), and data driven instruction (DDI) provide a timely opportunity to join school and district improvement and policy implementation research with improvement science. This book is not just a collection of findings about odds-beating schools (those with higher than predicted student performance trends and higher than average poverty and diversity) and their journeys to implement these innovations. It also provides timely perspectives regarding policy innovations and how they might disrupt practice in desirable or undesirable ways. This book offers readers insight into how educators at every boundary-classroom, school, and district interact to make meaning of innovations, both individually and collectively; and also how their meanings and values influence innovation implementation outcomes. The story includes details how policy innovations were tailored to school and district office priorities; the features of these schools' structures, climates, and routines that were conducive to implementation; and how these innovations were able to penetrate the classroom boundaries.