School level leadership is second only to effective instruction as essential to high student achievement (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson & Wahlstrom, 2004). Although factors such as socioeconomic levels and parental involvement contribute to the academic success of students, school leadership outweighs the impact of those factors. In the era of school accountability, school leaders face great challenges in sustaining high levels of student attainment. This is particularly true in my district, where I have noticed the declining performance of high poverty schools that were once high performing. As the demands have become greater and the support has dwindled, some of these schools have declined. Fullan (2005) contends that effective leadership at the school level is essential to the sustainability of high student achievement. Therefore, more needs to be learned from principals as they are charged to lead initiatives, develop teachers, and raise student achievement in high poverty schools in an era of challenging, high stakes accountability. In this practitioner research study, I used qualitative methodology to examine the following research question: What are the perspectives of principals in high poverty schools who are experiencing a decline in school performance? Using Dervin's (1983) sense-making approach, the study was designed to probe into principals' values and experiences, the challenges they faced in their current situation, and their optimal solutions to the current challenges. The principals were concerned about the readiness levels of teachers, parents, and students. They felt that they lacked the resources they needed to support high quality teachers and lead their schools back toward success. They noted that it seemed as if schools had to be failing in order to receive the assistance they needed, and had recommendations for reversing the downhill slide. By understanding the sense principals make of their decline, district and school leaders in my district and in similar districts can better understand how to support principals and teachers in these fragile contexts. In addition, by reflecting on the situation, these principals may be better positioned to act in ways that reverse the downward performance trend. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]