No student has been retained at West Carter Middle School in Olive Hill, Kentucky, in the last five years. Staff members proudly point to that fact as evidence that their decision to not permit zeros is working. That's a bit misleading, because coupled with the no-zero policy were a number of programmatic initiatives and supports that allowed all students to meet state standards and demonstrate significant academic growth. Six years ago, the school--which enrolls 475 students in grades 6-8, 69% of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch--was one of the lowest performing middle schools in Kentucky; today the students outperform 90% of the students in the state. This article describes how the transformation began.