This report considers six schools in two urban districts that made deliberate commitments to improve student performance in early language and literacy--each story is different, yet they all share an important insight: that a school and a model provider can work together to help every child learn to read. As the stories in the report demonstrate, in schools that partner with "Breakthrough to Literacy," attributes for success flow naturally through the teaching and learning experience: Teachers expect more from students and become more focused; they measure the progress not just of classes, but of individual students; teachers, administrators, students, and parents work together to create effective early literacy environments in the classroom and at home; and students are happier and perform better in classrooms and on standardized and high-stakes tests, even two or three years after their "Breakthrough" experience. According to the report, "Breakthrough to Literacy" achieves results because it uses a research-based conceptual framework and curriculum that build on the way children learn language and reading skills; and it provides the intensive professional development that produces good teachers of early literacy as well as good readers. The six schools discussed in the report are: Carrie Gosch Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, and McKinley Elementary--all in East Chicago, Indiana--and Larrymore Elementary, Norview Elementary, and St. Helena Elementary--all in Norfolk, Virginia. Contains 14 suggested readings. (NKA)