The language that students and teachers use to describe what they like best about M. O. Ramay Junior High School is strikingly similar. Both groups talk at length about how they are treated with respect and given freedom. Teachers describe the freedom to teach and students describe the freedom to be an individual. Both groups quickly add that with this freedom comes the responsibility for academic success. Students come to Ramay from multiple Fayetteville, Arkansas, middle schools and matriculate with students from the district's other junior high school into a single grades 10-12 high school. Over 50% of the students come from low-income homes, and almost 15% of the students receive special education services. State accountability assessments are given in 8th-grade English and math, Algebra 1 and 2, and geometry classes. The challenges inherent in this structure necessitate a high degree of collaboration as well as significant attention given to the needs of every student. The school has made AYP (schoolwide and in all subgroups) the last four years, and Ramay students outperformed their peers at other schools throughout the state. More impressive is that gaps in student achievement across all groups have been dramatically reduced or eliminated and performance levels have increased.