Many educators are faced with the above challenges while trying to deal with the formidable task of teaching effectively. The Standards movement is causing schools to become visibly accountable for changing curriculum and instruction to improve test scores. Thus, faculty and administrators are realizing the significant impact that insufficient content literacy skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), have on the ability of students to acquire the information included in their core curriculum.

The Learning Coach®,Inc., a professional development company in the education field, bridges the gap between research and practice by offering staff development that addresses school-wide reform, primarily focusing on literacy acquisition. Through our collaboration with schools and districts, we help them meet the critical challenges of successfully teaching "Strategic Content Literacy Skills" to diverse groups of secondary students. We accomplish this by using "Strategic Instruction" tools. These procedures enable not only at-risk students, but ALL STUDENTS, to substantially increase their mastery of critical content.

What is Strategic Instruction? Strategic instruction is a powerful system for promoting adolescent literacy across the curriculum. Instead of simply covering the available content, the "Strategic Instruction Approach" asks teachers to develop instructional plans around the most critical content and to simultaneously teach students the underlying literacy strategies for efficiently and effectively processing this critical information.

The following types of Strategic Instruction tools have been co-developed and thoroughly researched with teachers in the field through the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning:

Content Enhancement Routines & Learning Strategies

The Learning Coach®,Inc. - Golden, Colorado · Phone: 303/215-1400