Adolescent Literacy
Our tailored services for secondary school teachers help every learner thrive — from building foundational skills to advancing disciplinary literacy.
“Adolescent literacy is a shifting landscape where the heights get higher, the inclines steeper and the terrain rockier. Literacy demands change drastically in grades 4-12. So, too, do the students who must meet these demands.”
– “A Time to Act: An Agenda for Advancing Adolescent Literacy for College and Career Success,” by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Why Our Approach Works
We partner with schools and districts to meet the literacy demands of secondary grades and meet each student where they are. Our coaching, facilitation, and courses equip educators with the tools to address the unique literacy challenges of every student, applying the most current research available.
Comprehensive Coaching
Align coaching with professional development to ensure implementation success. Choose to focus on:
- Adolescent Literacy Professional Learning
- Small Group Initial Training
- Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) in English Language Arts (ELA).
Assessment & Intervention Framework
Build a fully articulated framework to address diverse literacy needs in line with a Secondary Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) model. Align student instructional profiles, resources, and interventions.
What sets the HILL apart is their deep expertise and genuine investment in our educators. They didn’t just hand us a plan — they built our district’s capacity. Their coaching, professional learning, and problem solving support helped us shift mindsets, strengthen Tier 1 instruction, and create sustainable systems that will serve our students for years to come.
Stephanie Kennedy, Director of English Language Arts, Fall River Public Schools (MA)
The biggest thing that I’ve learned is that students who are in middle and high school still have the ability to learn to read, and that with the correct set of lessons and curriculum and books that are age appropriate and culturally appropriate, they are willing and able to raise their levels and find those skills.
Samantha Krzyzanowski, Director of Innovative Reading, Hope for Youth and Families (MA)
Courses We Offer
Who It’s For
Secondary content area teachers, as well as special educators and reading specialists, want to help students access complex texts and express their thinking across subjects. This series strengthens teachers’ understanding of how to explicitly and effectively integrate disciplinary literacy into content area instruction, ensuring that all students can access rigorous Tier 1 learning.
How It’s Offered
Self-paced — 2-hour modules you can complete on your own schedule
Instructor-led — 2.5-hour virtual classes that meet each month at a specific time set by your school district; Self-paced follow-up with HILL Online
The Questions We Explore
Designed specifically for educators in Grades 6-12, this series provides teachers with techniques and strategies to support literacy development in their subject area in 10 modules with follow-up activities and resources.
- What happens in the brain when we read? How can this understanding inform our instruction?
- What do basic, intermediate, and disciplinary literacy mean? How do these levels impact reading grade-level content material?
- How do we plan differentiated instruction to allow all students to access complex text?
- How do we analyze instruction to determine the presence of features of effective instruction?
- What is the importance of vocabulary acquisition? What impact does it have on comprehension?
- What role does strategy instruction play? How do high-leverage instructional routines support constructing meaning from text?
Module Topics
Module 1: Introduction to Adolescent Literacy
Module 2: Features of Effective Instruction
Module 3: Using Background Knowledge and Inferencing Skills
Module 4: Constructing Meaning While Reading: Get the Gist
Module 5: The Role of Vocabulary in Meaning Acquisition
Module 6: Self-monitoring and Questioning to Support Meaning Acquisition
Module 7: The Role of Fluency and Syntax in Meaning Acquisition
Module 8: Text-based Discussion
Module 9: The Reading-Writing Connection
Module 10: Pulling It All Together: Sustaining Practices
Small Group Initial Training for Secondary Grades
Who It’s For
Teachers working with striving readers who need targeted support to keep up with literacy goals. This series empowers your educators to provide impactful Tier 2 intervention to meet a variety of student need.
How It’s Offered
Self-paced — 2-hour classes you can complete on your own schedule
Instructor-led — 2.5-hour virtual classes that meet at a specific time set by your school district; Self-paced follow-up with five microcourses on HILL Online that provide ongoing support to improve instruction and impact student outcomes.
Module Topics
Module 1: Introduction to Small Group Instruction Foundational Skills
Module 2: The Routines
Module 3: Fluency Lesson Plans
Module 4: Backward Planning
Elevate: Transforming Adolescent Literacy
Elevate transforms the way schools support older striving readers. We pair Storyshares’s high-interest books with the HILL’s evidence-based routines, training, and coaching. The result is a powerful combination that lifts literacy at every level.
Take on Adolescent Literacy
Every HILL solution starts with a conversation so we understand your goals, needs, and budget.