Looking at literacy teaching across classrooms at the urban Mill City Charter School provides an opportunity to explore the importance of coherence within a school. This work was informed by teachers' voices and classroom observations over several months. Findings suggest that when teachers and school leaders share a common theory and vision for literacy education and work in the context of a professional learning community, teachers' opportunities to act as knowledgeable professionals, and children's opportunities for success and empowerment through literacy may be enhanced.