At a time when the public, researchers, and policymakers are losing confidence in public schooling, this presentation of case studies of four schools offers solutions and concrete models of diverse ways in which excellence can be attained in middle-grade schools. Asking what "effectiveness" means for the young adolescent age group (a hitherto unexplored area in research literature), how effective schools come about, and how they achieve acceptance in their communities, Lipsitz identifies and examines successful middle-grade schools, noting that the major problem in schooling is meeting the massive individual differences in the development of early adolescents.