The purpose of this qualitative cycle of action research was to explore how urban educational leaders form and created justifications about the expectation levels for students that are categorized by the State of California as being high need. My previous cycles of action research have examined institutional, cultural, and individual aspects of my district and our schools that may diminish current student achievement. A problem of practice has emerged for further examination whereby students that are label high need are not thought of being able to achieve high levels of academic achievement. In this cycle, participants (n = 2) were urban educators in leadership positions from outside the context of origin of my problem of practice. The research questions were: How do urban educational leaders describe the learning potential of students labeled high need? and; How do urban educational leader describe their responsibility to students labeled high need? Findings included the development of a grounded there whereby when urban educational leaders set positive ecological systems goals, actively engage in the struggles students face, create clear expectation and supports for school staff, and engage in equity based resourcing, that students labeled high needs are more likely to find success.