No Child Left Behind has become a permanent fixture in the world of education. This paper seeks to use the construct of figured worlds as described by Holland, Skinner, Lachicotte, & Cain, (1998) to examine the ways policy makers and teachers navigate the world of literacy education. Viewing policy makers and teachers as participants in discrete communities, the theoretical position of figured worlds also allows for the possibility of re-viewing teachers' positions related to NCLB as open to change. The notions of improvisation and agency are used to make spaces for teachers to rearrange the boundaries of their figured worlds and begin to shape the world of teaching from outside as well as from within. (Contains 2 footnotes.)