In 2002, Principal Candy McCarthy of Alisal High School took a big risk on behalf of her teachers and students. Because her school had been designated "under-performing," she received supplemental funding for school improvement purposes. McCarthy decided to use all of the additional funds to purchase collaborative planning time for teachers. By the time the 2003-2004 school year was under way, small groups of teachers with the same subject assignment in core areas of English, math and science were given as much as three hours per week to plan their lessons. Allocating all of her school's funding to collaborative planning time called for a leap of faith. McCarthy believed that her staff, given the time and the opportunity to work together, would develop new strategies and effective plans that would lead Alisal High School's students to meet state standards. Unfortunately, she did not provide teachers with specific directions for using the additional planning time. McCarthy's predicament is not uncommon, and researchers in school reform have noticed that the lack of specific directions for use of planning time is an impediment to standards achievement. The purpose of this article is to provide teachers with strategies they can use efficiently for planning and assessing standards-achieving instruction.