Lucy Addison Middle School Principal Robert Johnson fulfilled a promise Saturday afternoon. He paraded in front of the Northwest Roanoke school in a long skirt and a wig rolled with pink curlers, occasionally hiking up the garment to show off knee-high nylon stockings.

Johnson vowed to his students last school year he would dress like a woman -- including a bra -- if they met the 70 percent passing benchmark on the state's Standards of Learning tests so the school could become fully accredited for the first time.

"Whatever it takes," Johnson said Saturday at a ceremony to celebrate the school's inaugural accreditation.

The Addison Bulldogs met the mark after a decade of trying.

The path to success is part of a deep divisionwide push to become what superintendent Rita Bishop calls a model for urban education. Teachers and administrators are focusing on an eight-step instructional method to plan, monitor, check and react to students' needs throughout the year.

"One of the things that is just infectious at Addison is the spirit of hard work, powerful work ethic and strong teamwork," said Vella Wright, the city's assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. "They believed they were going to get accredited."

Addison served students from seven public housing developments before last spring's massive remake of the school attendance boundaries, making it one of the city's most impoverished schools.

"Never underestimate the power of the Bulldog," said William Morris, Addison's student body vice president during the 2008-09 school year.

All but two of Roanoke's schools are fully accredited, the highest percentage since the state initiated SOL tests in 1998. Eight city schools missed the mark in 2007 and seven didn't make it in 2008. Westside Elementary School was accredited with warning and William Fleming High School's accreditation status will be determined this week by the state board of education. Officials in September marked Fleming's status "to be determined" because of a state department of education investigation implicating five administrators in a schedule-manipulating scandal that kept dozens of students from taking the mandated tests. Susan Willis, the school's former principal who allegedly was the ringleader in the scandal, was fired by the school board Tuesday. After the state's investigation, school officials uncovered a much broader number of students affected by schedule manipulations in the three most recent school years.

Efforts are under way to get Westside Elementary fully accredited this year, including by a new principal, Seydric Williams. Wright said he has renewed the school's spirit and invigorated the staff.

"Even though he has not been there very long, he has embraced the challenge Westside represents," Wright said.

Last year Westside was the city's second-largest elementary school, and nearly 80 percent of the students were eligible for free or reduced meals. The school has two assistant principals this year as well as an academic coach and a mentor.

"Are we reinventing things? No. Because we believe when you have a method that works, you should stick to it," Wright said.

Johnson started at Addison as an assistant principal in 2003 and later became principal. He was out of town last year when he got a phone call from Wright: Addison was a point shy of meeting the accreditation mark for the 2007-08 school year. Johnson said he cried then, and he choked back tears as he told the story Saturday. When he returned to school, there was a card from Wright waiting on him.

"It said, 'Hold on. It's going to come,' " he recounted.

And the school's moment did arrive. Addison's first-ever full accreditation banner was unveiled Saturday.