School administrators, eager to raise student achievement levels to meet the requirements of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, are increasingly looking to staff development for the purpose of enhancing student achievement. How would it be possible for staff development to be more effective than it now is? Mountain View Alternative High School is a suburban high school located in Centrevllle, Virginia. The school enrolls 340 students in grades ranging from 9 to 12. Its administrative team consists of one principal and two assistant principals. Its faculty number 43, and its staff number 10. The teachers developed for Mountain View Alternative School its own very successful staff development program. The first step in developing Mountain View's staff development program was a needs assessment survey. In spring 2004, a teacher volunteer worked with the technology specialist to create an online survey that identified areas of perceived need. Initially, the task of using the survey results to design a staff development program appeared daunting because teacher responses indicated interest in a wide range of topics. After reviewing the results more closely, however, the group found two overarching areas of common interest: awareness of their students and awareness of their instruction and student learning. These two themes became the heart of their staff development program.