The goal of Colorados education system is to ensure that all children have access to a high quality school and the opportunity to receive an excellent education. But for too many students--urban, suburban and rural schools--that expectation is not being met. It is widely held in the education profession that turning a chronically low-performing school into a high-performing school is the most difficult of all tasks. Many strategies have been tried; few have succeeded. However, the enormity and complexity of the problem is not a valid excuse for failing to solve it, and CDE must lead the way.