If school leaders are to bring about successful reform, they must thwart the forces that have conspired against it since the 19th century. In this article, the author identifies six "conspirators" against thoughtful school practice and offers practical suggestions for rooting them out. The six conspirators are: (1) The tendency to view schools as factories; (2) The tendency of community fears to drive school activity; (3) The tendency to impose plans that look great from above and make little sense at ground level; (4) The tendency of the system to crush promising innovation; (5) The tendency of schools to say yes to all legitimate requests; and (6) The tendency to promote favored groups to the detriment of others. Here, the author offers some useful questions for school leaders to ask as they combat each of the six conspirators, and these are: (1) The Manufacturing Metaphor; (2) The Fear Factor; (3) The View from the Top; (4) The Grand Interlock; (5) The Politics of Appeasement; and (6) The Failure of Generosity and Justice. (Contains 21 endnotes.)