Light of the World School—known by its Spanish name, Escuela Luz del Mundo (ELM)—was initiated in the fall of 2007 with eighteen eager sixth graders in a renovated halfway house. Located on a corner infamous in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for drug dealing and prostitution in the city’s most economically and socially challenged neighborhood, ELM was an independent, progressive Christian middle school. There are two primary purposes for the book: (1) to describe unique features of ELM that were grounded in a theoretical framework created from the "highly effective school study" as a means to highlight how to improve public schools and (2) to draw attention to the need for making education for every student the nation’s top priority.