Innovation is often driven by crisis, and Rutter (2011) began her chapter by reminding everyone of the crisis confronting the United States in the early 1980s and how that provided impetus for the development of professional development schools (PDSs). In a complementary companion chapter, Neapolitan and Levine (2011) take the reader through guidelines and principles, and eventually standards and regulations, that guided the evolution of professional development schools over the last quarter century. As Rutter does (2011), they examine external conditions and context that promulgated these actions. These chapter writers provide an excellent review and analyses of what shaped the development of the PDS over the last quarter century. They illustrate that, as with any major reform effort, there were multiple drivers as well as persistent and pervasive counterforces and obstacles to overcome in the evolution of the PDS. In this regard, the two chapters provide a most helpful lens for looking at the what, how, and why of professional development schools.