The Swedish research team revisited three schools. Two of the schools had improved their student learning outcomes over the five years. The schools are both small schools in rather small school districts with supporting communities around. The third school – a big inner-city school - had not improved the results but could still be considered a successful school if we control for the challenging environment the school operates in. If we look on success in relation to context maybe our third school is the most successful. We found some overlapping strategies between the schools. All principals were working to change school structure and culture by opening the school to the local society. We also found that our principals were very self-confident and outspoken, convinced of their capacity to implement school improvement through changes in both learning structures and school culture. The principals also had continued their hard work to convince teachers, students and parents to develop a twofold emphasis on academic knowledge as well as on norms and values, i.e. the social and democratic goals for the school. Our conclusion after revisiting the successful school is that the concept of successful leadership must be qualified in relation to how well the leader can control the development of both the schools structure and culture with the clear focus of improving student learning for all students.