According to decades of educational research the presence of high expectations is a salient feature of effective schools for students from disadvantaged backgrounds (Weinstein 2002). When school leaders and teachers hold high expectations for students, they also tend to hold high expectations for their own performance. There also seems to be an agreement that the relationship between leadership and learning outcomes is indirect but nevertheless important (Leithwood & Louis 2012). However, we know less about what the layering of leadership looks like in different contexts, and how professional standards of good work and new demands interact to support educators’ commitment to quality education for a diverse student population. This paper aims to understand how leadership, culture and support structure at different levels in the school hierarchy can explain student learning and achievement in schools. The empirical data is taken from one lower secondary school in a large Norwegian municipality.