Over the last 15 years, a variety of efforts to transform American high schools have gained both public and private support. Significant among these efforts are initiatives to implement small learning communities (SLCs). Like other reform efforts, SLCs have several goals, including "downsizing large schools, meeting the needs of at-risk students, solving the problem of failing schools, modeling the process of school restructuring, personalizing education for all students, empowering teachers and extending their roles, preventing dropping out, and finding an equitable substitute for tracking" (Raywid, 1996, p. 9). In 2004, Delaware's Christina School District (CSD) was among many high-poverty districts awarded funding for implementation in its three high schools theme-specific SLCs--at the time, an emerging model with a strong "theoretical" base. The district's 3-year federal grant, designed to build on a 9th-grade academy piloted in 2003-04 at one high school, would create 9th-grade transition academies and career-themed SLCs in all high schools. These reform structures were to be characterized by (a) interdisciplinary teams of core subject teachers across all grade levels to foster personalized and continuous relationships between the teams of teachers and their students; (b) rigorous curricula to meet the needs of all children; and (c) the provision of high-quality, sustained professional development in core subjects and SLC implementation. This brief provides an overview of CSD's efforts to establish SLCs, both at the district and school level, highlighting challenges to the SLC design and its implementation. [For the full report, "Districtwide Implementation of Small Learning Communities: A Case Study on Improving School Climate," see ED532051.]