After a decade or so spent largely on setting academic standards against which to hold schools accountable, states are themselves being held accountable for helping schools figure out how to meet them. The result is a huge leadership challenge. With few or no added resources, state education agencies are retooling to provide more technical support just as new federal rules are dramatically driving up the number of under-performing schools and districts demanding their assistance. This special report, that represents a supplement to the September 13, 2006 issue of "Education Week," takes a look at how U.S. states are taking new roles as they provide support for their low-performing schools and districts. According to the reports made by Education Week's review of the consolidated performance reports that they submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, the most common assistance provided by states are some form of guidance on drafting improvement plans. This special report of "Education Week" funded by The Wallace Foundation, includes the following articles: (1) Building Capacity (Jeff Archer); (2) Kentucky (David J. Hoff); (3) New Mexico (Linda Jacobson); and (4) Pennsylvania (Jeff Archer). (Individual articles contain references.)