There exists a debate about how to increase the academic success of African American and Latino/a students coming from high-poverty communities. At the center, is the extent of influence market-based school choice policies should have in the context of education reform. This study focused on a high-achieving, public charter with a "no-excuses" orientation which was an instructional framework for schooling (Fryer, 2011) and teacher-driven pedagogies (Haberman, 2010) that promoted deficit views concerning success. However, success is a construct that has not been defined or re(imagined) similarly by everyone. Thus, how settings and individuals make meaning of success represents an important contribution because it serves to disrupt assumptions about what success is and how it may be attained.