An elementary school principal's successful attempts to improve her inner-city school are described in this case study, which includes a diagram representing her formula for better education. The principal, a charismatic, elderly woman, takes an aggressive role in improving the school environment and student nutrition, encouraging and monitoring the improvement of teachers' skills, increasing discipline, and communicating individually with students and teachers. Her tasks are made difficult by lack of parental support, crime, high transiency rate, and the economic disadvantages of her students. Most of her students are Black and Hispanic; for the Hispanics she helped write a grant that resulted in an examplary bilingual program. This principal emphasizes listening, taking into account the needs of the whole child, consistency in discipline, developing a staff with unified goals, team teaching, holding teachers accountable for the progress of their students, and developing independent thinking in the students. Her methods have been successful in raising performance scores and improving attitudes in the school and the community. (FWR)