Many factors mitigate against successful achievement in large urban school districts. There are some schools, similar to Scheurich's HiPass Schools (1998), that "beat the odds", where low income students are experiencing academic success. This study investigated the school culture of one Midwestern urban elementary school that had success in raising student achievement. Based on the leadership models of Fullan (2001) and Saphier, King, and D'Auria (2006), five aspects of school culture were selected for this deterministic case study: leadership, vision, shared decision-making, collaboration, and caring and respect. Data were collected from fifteen interview persons and groups that included school administrators, teachers, support staff, students, parents, and volunteers. Additional data were taken from fieldnotes, documents, test results, the district's website, and an award application. All data were coded and themed by the constant comparative method and then analyzed and clustered according to each of the five culture variables.

The results found that each of the interview persons and groups believed that culture, as defined by the five aspects, is a very important part of a school and influential in student achievement and student learning. Everyone said a shared vision by leadership and staff to have "all students succeed" was critical to its success. Interviewees felt that leadership, depicted primarily in this case study by a principal of 16 years, was the key factor in shaping the culture that led to increased student achievement. Having quality teachers was another important factor in the school's overall success. The positive relationships that developed from the strong leader and the empowered teachers became the catalyst for shared decision-making, collaboration, and the caring and respect that, by all reports, seemed to permeate the school building.