Kelly and her team at Revere Public Schools intend to overhaul the methods by which students have been selected for rigorous coursework over the last few hundred years or so.

"If you choose to respond in a powerful, informed, instructive and positive way, then it can be a huge benefit for us," says Jon Ostendorf, CIO at the Princeton Day School. "It's exciting because it's a challenge and we have to respond to it right away. Every day, you see more potential."

State already has the authority to go into a school and change curriculum, change the professional development training for teachers, change instruction strategies—and even change the school calendar. Under the new law, the state school superintendent can actually change school staff.