Providing differentiated learning experiences for every student is one of the goals behind teacher collaboration (Reeves, 2003; Byrd, 2020). The problem examined in this study was that collaborative planning has been used as a solution to improve instructional quality in low-resourced schools, without assessing the effectiveness of that solution through the eyes of classroom teachers who taught solo. This problem affects teachers who must meet students' needs during instruction and students who need access to quality instruction to experience success academically. The purpose of this study was to collect the perspectives of teachers who were currently teaching in an urban public school about the extent to which collaborative planning influenced their instruction and what they believed could be done to restructure collaborative planning to better meet the needs of teachers at their schools. Teachers' perceptions of the collaborative process can be better understood by defining the varied experiences that support the theoretical concept of self-efficacy as established by Albert Bandura in 1977. For this study, a qualitative phenomenological research design was used to collect information, opinions, knowledge, and the experiences of teachers. Data was obtained and analyzed from an online questionnaire, a document analysis, and semi-structured interviews with eight teachers from four elementary schools who taught reading solo and engaged in collaborative planning sessions at their school. The data revealed that most participants perceived collaborative planning to be necessary in terms of improving their instruction. It was also found that getting active support from a school administrator was beneficial to participants' ability to meet students' needs. It was also found that all participants felt that adequate time to plan and teacher voice in decision making about collaboration were two ways the collaborative planning process could be strengthened or improved. It was implied that while the bulk of the participants were willing to persevere through their struggles with collaboration, one participant appeared to struggle with commitment due to lack of satisfaction with instructional values at the school. Future research should include the perceptions of teachers from other content areas who teach solo in elementary schools and/or middle and high school teachers. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]