Efforts to make substantial and substantive improvements related to mental health in schools and student/learning supports requires much more than implementing a few demonstrations. Improved approaches are only as good as a school district's ability to develop and institutionalize them equitably in all its schools. This process often is called diffusion, replication, roll out, or scale-up. The frequent failure to sustain innovations and take them to scale in school districts has increased interest in understanding systemic change as a central concern in school improvement. This report provides examples of steps for turning a pilot project into a catalyst for systemic change and sustainability: (1) Refer to the project as an "Initiative" rather than a "Pilot"; (2) Establish an initiative director and leadership team; (3) Establish an infrastructure; (4) Adopt a comprehensive vision and write a design document; (5) Start a process for translating the vision into policy; (6) Develop a 5-year strategic plan; and (7) Move the strategic plan to implementation. Lists of suggested benchmarks and references are included. (Contains 15 resources.)