My passion is for "gifting" students who have been labeled as underperformers, identifying and capitalizing on their strengths and innate learning potential. My research and work is based on the cognitive mediation theory of Dr. Reuven Feurestein which focuses on cognitive development and the impact of neurobiology and culture on intellectual development, learning, and achievement. This research is reflected in the book I was commissioned to write by Teachers College Press, Pedagogy of Confidence®, Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools. Aim HIgh, Achieve More: How to Transform Urban Schools through Fearless Leadership was co-authored by Veronica McDermott for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development to guide leadership teams in cultivating the environment for the Pedagogy of Confidence and high intellectual performance to flourish.Our organization, the National Urban Alliance, works with school districts to customize and deliver systemic approaches to reversing underachievement through High Operational Practices ™ that incorporate a strength-based approach to engage and accelerate student learning to elicit high intellectual performances and self-determination. As adjunct professor at Teachers College, my graduate students investigate application of this philosophy through community engagement to ensure support for transforming urban schools to realize the vast innate intellectual capacity of their students.