Title I schools that want desperately to raise student scores on high-stakes tests often have found it hard to resist the lure of scripted literacy programs, especially in the face of pressure from No Child Left Behind to raise test scores. In recent years, many high-poverty elementary schools have adopted such programs in spite of evidence about effective literacy instruction. Darling-Hammond, citing a study by Dreeben (1987), notes "that differences in reading outcomes among students were almost entirely explained not by socioeconomic status or race but by the quality of instruction the students received" (2007). Teachers using scripted programs often do not have the autonomy to do what good teachers have always done: think and respond to students' progress in a variety of research-based and theoretically driven ways, designing and redesigning literacy instruction to meet students' needs. As a result, both student learning and teacher professionalism suffer. Before adopting a scripted literacy program, teacher leaders and administrators in Title I elementary schools should consider their answers to the four questions presented in this article.