What explains the failure of a school to produce good student outcomes? One explanation that is often provided in Sweden is the challenging catchment areas of these schools. Our hypothesis is that the explanation many times can be found in challenging internal circumstances, which could be defined as frequent shifts in leadership, lack of competent teachers, a high number of teachers on extended sick leave, a high number of substitute teachers, among other things. We would like to redefine the challenge and sum it up as a co-variation between the four factors that will be discussed in our article; the SES of the catchment area, the number of children in need of additional or special support, the organizational structure and culture and the competence and quality of the school staff. In this article we try to explain the connection between school leadership, school structure and culture and low preforming schools. Our research question: Is it time to reformulate the terminology of Swedish school policy on low preforming schools and expand the focus from “students in need of special support” to “school organizations in need of special support”?