When leaders in Lewisville Independent School District in Texas saw the district's writing scores on STAAR--the Texas standardized tests introduced in 2011--they panicked. They were not alone. The response from many neighboring districts, and from some of Lewisville's own campuses, was a renewed commitment to summer and after-school drill-and-kill tutorials. Some campuses extend the oppositional language further, naming their programs STAAR Boot Camp and STAAR Wars. Each individual student against the test. After two years, Lewisville's scores stagnated. Frustration was high; teachers and students burned out. As the district's secondary literacy and language arts administrator, the author knew they were at a turning point: Do they double-down on this testing practice, or do they try something completely different? The author worked with principals, department heads, and teachers to put together a comprehensive literacy improvement plan to address concerns while adhering to the district's core belief about student learning: High-quality, research-based instruction is enough to turn the tide, and practice tests and drills should be abandoned. The plan, its implementation, and success are discussed in this article.