The promise of summer vacation was dangling before Kingsbury High School students on a simmering afternoon in May.

But instead of talking about plans to be poolside, students had one question for their teachers: "Where are the scores?"

Mildred Carpenter has been teaching at Kingsbury High for 16 years. Last week, she prepared her classroom.

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When a group of students in Anna Herzog's class got the answer, their cheers and shrieks reverberated through the schools' expansive halls. Every student in that class passed the Algebra 1 Gateway exam, and many scored at the advanced level.

Last week, the school discovered, the success wasn't confined to Herzog's class.

Kingsbury's Algebra scores went up by nearly 30 percentage points, allowing the school to make Adequate Yearly Progress in all academic categories for the first time since No Child Left Behind started.

The march toward progress has been long for Kingsbury, which languished for six years on the state's "high-priority" list.

Former superintendent Carol Johnson appointed a new principal, Dr. Terrence Brown, for fall 2006. He was known for his work boosting performance at Lanier Middle School.

And the state education department gave the school strict directives last summer on staffing to help improve the school, adding coaches to help increase math, literacy and graduation performance.

Most of the school's math department was new to the school in 2007, including several corps members from Teach for America.

The school at 1270 N. Graham is home to large populations of immigrant and special education students, creating a challenge in delivering instruction to so many different types of students.

But Brown, the principal, said it's a challenge Kingsbury is ready to meet.

"How does a school this diverse ever get off the list? You get off the list by insisting you have a plan for teaching everyone," he said.

"You have the Statue of Liberty mindset: whomever comes through the door, we will work with them."

And that work is beginning to pay off.

"Kingsbury has been a conundrum," said Connie Smith, executive director of accountability for the Tennessee Department of Education. "They have had several principals and several staff changes."

Smith said the new staff and school leadership has made a difference.

"They gave ownership of the school to the people in the school," she said. "Everybody had the same mission, which was to help teachers teach and children learn and it's obvious that it's worked there."

Herzog said part of the success comes from higher expectations not only for teachers, but for students.

The first-year teacher said she adopted a "no-excuses" policy with her students.

"It was awesome to see them at the end realize they could do it," she said.

But the graduation rate remains the sticking point for the school's attempts to clear the bar. Brown says a significant number of migrant students come and go without a trace. Students who can't be found count against the school as dropouts.

"We have a large number of undocumented kids. When they leave, we can't track them down," he said.

Even so, the school has made strides.

According to data provided by Memphis City Schools, 92.5 percent of Kingsbury seniors graduated in May.

Students and teachers say they've seen a change in the two years Brown has been in charge. "I think Kingsbury is progressing in a positive way," said senior Julian Earl. "It has a lot of resources ... . If you're just coming because the law makes you, then you may not like it."

Maj. Steven Williams, the school's military academy director, agreed.

"When Dr. Brown came in, there was a definite focus on discipline," Williams said. "He has done an absolutely fantastic job on turning the school around."

The Commercial Appeal was granted broad access to Kingsbury over the course of the school year to observe a work in progress.

Hallways were filled with student work and charts showing where the school scored on practice exams.

Collaboration is both demanded and valued at the school, and most staffers say to good effect.

"The staff is supportive. Everyone has a good vibe," said English teacher A.J. Stich. "Everyone is working toward a goal ... ."

Mike Sizemore, the special education coordinator, has been at Kingsbury for 15 years, longer than all but a handful of other staff members. And he says he couldn't be prouder of what has taken place.

"We've worked hard to get there," he said. "As a whole, this is one of the best teams of people I've worked with."

Math and literacy coaches worked with teachers to isolate the areas where students struggled most, so those areas could be targeted in after-school and weekend tutoring sessions throughout the school year, said graduation coach Joel Harris. Fellowship Memphis Church also played a huge role, sending volunteers to tutor, help clean up the grounds around the school and encourage the students.

McKenzie Boyd, an algebra and geometry teacher, said she hopes the progress Kingsbury is making will help change negative perceptions about the school and attract more students.

"The kids need to understand they are in a place where change is happening," she said. "They should be proud of that."