This article outlines progress made towards education transformation in Wales. It explores the way in which tri-level reform is guiding system level change in Wales and looks at the implementation of the School Effectiveness Framework, which is at the heart of the reform process. It describes the way in which professional learning communities are being deployed across the education system to build the capacity for change. The article highlights some of the challenges in securing countrywide reform and concludes that school and system transformation will only be successful if the leadership capacity for change, at all levels in the system, is established and sustained. (Contains 1 note.)