Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, which is located in the rural New England town of Franklin, Massachusetts, is a school of "choice" that students elect to attend. All of the school's 850 students must have a career/technical focus for their studies. Most of Tri-County's ninth-graders are unprepared for high school, and 38% have special education needs. In the past, Tri-County's leaders and teachers faced a difficult challenge in educating many low- performing students who had never been expected to achieve at high levels. To meet this challenge, Tri-County's leaders and teachers developed a school-improvement framework that included the following improvement strategies: (1) raising graduation requirements by requiring all students to complete four courses in each major subject area (plus a concentration in career/technical studies); (2) raising classroom expectations by holding students to standards; (3) revising career/technical programs, including by integrating reading, mathematics, and writing skills into students' assignments; (4) providing structured work-based learning experiences; (5) improving guidance and advisement; (6) providing extra help and time; (7) recognizing outstanding achievement; and (8) using data to guide improvement. Tri-County's improvement efforts have yielded significant gains in student achievement on the High Schools That Work Assessment and Scholastic Aptitude Test. Tri-County's dropout rate has remained below 2.7% even though standards have risen for all students. (MN)