Districts nationwide are facing budget cuts that, to some, feel more like funding cliffs. Accordingly, school teams are re-examining their personnel, programs, and schedules so that they can make difficult decisions about where to spend resources to realize the greatest improvement. The principals who are able to make decisions with data from high-quality needs assessments will have the greatest chances of success. For a needs assessment to have maximum impact within a school, the process must build trust across the school community. Trust in the context of a needs assessment must exist (or be built) at many of the following levels: (1) Trust in the process (that it will produce useful results); (2) Trust in the data (that they are sound and objective); (3) Trust in colleagues (that team members share common beliefs about the need for change and will be mutually supportive in achieving stated goals); and (4) Trust in the results (that they are valid and helpful). Most important, a needs assessment must serve as a catalyst for achieving agreement about the need for change and on what must be changed.