To be recognized and adopted, the promise and potential of national standards must validate the instructional role of the school librarian and build formative knowledge through authentic process and products. Inquiry is a direct link to those dimensions. Standards that are rigorous and relevant optimize the developing brain's affinity for building relationships among ideas, attending to what is compelling, and making sense out of information. Strategic school librarians heed the news flash. Opportunity is knocking. The school librarian who recognizes the potential of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards opens a doorway to rigorous collaborative practice aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). To the benefit of school library programs, CCSS ELA literacy standards are a part of these 2013 inquiry-driven packages of social studies and science standards. Exploring these road maps for teaching social studies and science puts the school librarian on the entrance ramp to relevant and meaningful practice in a curricular domain. Assimilating these frameworks engages teachers and school librarians in curriculum transformed for critical thinking, research, and life-long learning. Developing a deep understanding of these frameworks pulls the school librarian into the high-occupancy vehicle lane on the learning highway. Partnering with grade-level teachers and subject specialists, the school librarian is not stuck alone in a reactive gridlock. Leading for learning, the school librarian is in a vehicle geared to college- and career-readiness, and learners who think, create, share, and grow--learners for life.