This Action Plan has been developed to ensure the success of the Arkansas Smart Step Initiative, the part of the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program (ACTAAP) that focuses on grades 5 through 8. As do other aspects of the ACTAAP, the Smart Start Initiative has four components, each of which is described here: (1) standards that are clear statements of what students should know and do, supported by benchmarks and curriculum models; (2) professional development opportunities; (3) student assessment that requires administration of norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests; and (4) accountability as a focused and comprehensive process to improve student learning. Accountability as part of the Smart Start Initiative is constructed around a three-tiered system of statewide indicators, individual school improvement indicators, and a locally generated school accountability narrative. (SLD)