Three hundred public school professionals from districts throughout the state descended on schools throughout the St. Louis School District over several days last April and May.

They were teachers, principals, superintendents, librarians, counselors, technology advisers and special education consultants. Most worked for school districts in the St. Louis region, but also on hand were educators from Maryville, Cape Girardeau, Kirksville and Carl Junction, among others.

They formed professional SWAT teams as part of a program that performs periodic peer reviews in every school district in the state. Bob Taylor, state supervisor of school improvement and accountability for districts in the St. Louis metro area, calls them a school district's "critical friends."

They visited every building and evaluated resources, management, staffing and adherence to a multitude of state standards. Last month they presented a long list of deficiencies: Records and data were a mess. Curricula weren't meeting students' needs. Attendance, graduation and student achievement rates are low. There were few indications of any progress.

The cycle is familiar to anyone who follows St. Louis Public Schools. Outside evaluators arrive. They offer a grim assessment. The district responds with a plan to fix the problems. A new cycle begins, and then more evaluators arrive.

When will the cycle be broken?

St. Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams took office one year ago — just a few months before the review teams arrived. He says the findings represent "a cleansing" that washes away any uncertainty about "where we are."

"There was no whining, fault finding or finger pointing," he said. "This is the reality. Ownership (now) means everybody's ownership. It's clear what it takes to become accredited."

Mr. Adams refuses to rule out the possibility that the district could regain provisional accreditation by the end of 2010. He concedes that it is a long shot but, he adds, city schools now have a productive working relationship with state education officials in aggressively confronting and correcting the district's problems.

That hasn't always been the case. "It's like a breath of fresh air," said Mr. Taylor, the education department's local supervisor.

He said that Mr. Adams had identified serious deficiencies even before the review teams came to town — in many instances asking that reviewers focus on them.

He credits the Special Administrative Board that now oversees the district under state fiat for "creating the stability" that enables "a superintendent to do his job."

"There are going to be challenges," Mr. Taylor said, but the district is "moving in the right direction."

Stability, collaboration and confidence from outside authorities aren't qualities commonly attributed St. Louis Public Schools. They do not guarantee success or significant progress. But without them, progress is impossible.

Still, the district and the Special Administrative Board have their critics. Peter Downs, president of the elected school board that was stripped of power in 2007, widely circulated the list of problems identified by the review team. He sought to lay them at the feet of the Special Administrative Board even though many were years in the making.

That's the sort of combative political approach that typified district governance before the district lost accreditation. It calls to mind President Barack Obama's response last month to Republican critics of his handling of the national economic crisis.

Mr. Obama told a group in Miami, "I'm mopping the floor, and the folks who made the mess, they're standing there saying, 'You're not mopping fast enough. You're not holding the mop the right way. It's a socialist mop.'"

"You know what," the president said, "just grab a mop!"

Real school reformers are easy to identify. They're busy working their mops.