Many CES schools have been wonderful to watch over the years. These schools have surpassed expectations in their percentage of graduates, scholarships awarded students for post-secondary schools, and graduates who as adults have better health, intact families, occupations, and participation in their communities than comparable students from conventional high schools. The often cited, but consistently ignored, purpose of public education is to prepare students to be free-thinking and valued citizens of an always renewing democratic society. CES schools have been true to this broader mission when they challenge students to demonstrate, apply, and contribute their learning to settings outside the classroom and school walls. But there also are CES schools that struggle to keep to their purpose while complying with high stakes requirements of district, state, and federal agencies. Anyone who has worked in a Coalition school can attest that the work isn't easy, and the standards and expectations for all--students, faculty and staff members, parents, and community members--are high. The need to appreciate, protect, and support those who work in CES schools will loom even larger as the current standards and accountability movement reinforces traditional conceptions of grade levels, subject knowledge, and uniformity of instruction. In this article, the authors share their own experiences and then draw some joint conclusions about sustaining CES schools and the Coalition itself. The schools they have examined were both regular public schools and charter public schools and of course, charter schools had more autonomy from their very beginnings. They also noted that in-district CES schools that have succeeded had a very clear delineation of responsibilities and authority understood and supported by both the school district and their teacher unions.