The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 2015 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reduced the amount of high-stakes testing administered to students. Under the ESSA, each state crafted a unique plan. Development of Georgia’s ESSA Plan began in 2017 and received federal approval in 2018. Implementation of the plan began during the 2018-19 school year. The literature shows that under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), instructional practices were affected, including the reduction of course offerings in favor of more focused test preparation. Would there be a shift in the way teachers planned instruction given the changes in testing? This holistic single-case study aimed to investigate how suburban middle grades teachers’ instructional practice was affected by the testing requirements specified in Georgia’s ESSA Plan. Additionally, the study investigated how school leaders supported teachers as they implemented the plan. Stanton Middle School (SMS), a suburban Georgia Title I school, was chosen as the site for the study because of its continued academic improvement over time and the opportunity to examine a suburban Title I middle school in the context of instructional practice. Eleven teachers and two school leaders participated in interviews about their knowledge of Georgia’s ESSA Plan, how testing impacts instructional practice, and the support provided by school leaders as teachers implemented the plan. Three themes emerged from the within-case analysis of the data. Those themes were: (1) practice over policy, (2) testing drives teachers’ instructional practice, and (3) expectations from the district take precedence over expectations from the state. Findings from the data showed that district-level testing affected teachers’ instructional practice more than state-level testing required by Georgia’s ESSA Plan. The strong district focus of the school under study made it difficult to clearly see and understand if the testing requirements specified in Georgia’s ESSA Plan had any bearing on teachers’ instructional practice. Moreover, SMS teachers and school leaders lacked an understanding of the plan as a policy. The study recommends that school leaders engage in policy-based conversations that affect instructional practice. Further research must be conducted to understand how ESSA affects instructional practice.