When James P. Connell arrived here nine years ago peddling a school improvement model he called First Things First, plenty of people wished he'd head back home.

"First Things First came in and I thought, 'More of the same,' " recalled Robert Bayer, an assistant principal at the city's 1,125-student Wyandotte High School. "I didn't want any part of it."

Eventually, Mr. Bayer and many other educators in this 20,000-student school system changed their minds. As the district graduall...