The only research-backed system that ignites reading success in secondary classrooms.

Let’s put Zinc to work in your classroom, school, or district.

The Zinc Approach to Adolescent Literacy

States expect secondary teachers to cover advanced textual analysis… but too few students arrive in middle and high school with the reading skills necessary to comprehend longer and more complex texts.

Zinc bridges the gaps.

Zinc teaches students what to do when they read by coaching them in the four easy-to-apply skills all advanced readers use naturally.

Try Zinc now. Explore Demo Activities.

  • 90% of students say they hate reading. Let's show them what they've been missing.

  • A third of 8th-graders reach reading “proficiency.” We can fix this.

  • Only 31% of 12th-graders reach “NAEP proficient” in reading. We're changing that.

  • Something's broken when just 13% of US adults can read and comprehend complex texts.

Enrich Your Classroom Curriculum With Zinc:

  • independent individualized differentiation reading growth practice

    Ignition

    After spending just one to two hours on Ignition, Zinc’s auto-leveled “tutoring” program, 30% of students grow by at least one reading level (that’s 1.5 grade levels of growth).

  • teacher facilitate discussion reading growth secondary collaborate

    Lift Off

    Lift Off’s AI-powered data gathering fuels a four-week journey that engages students with articles and book excerpts on the topics they choose —all delivered at the right level.

  • direct instruction reading strategies whole class discussion

    Flight

    Teachers can use Zinc’s multi-week reading programs or pick and choose vocabulary, articles, and close reading experiences to bring their curricula to life and get every student’s hand in the air.

Zinc Teacher Insights:

  • “Zinc solved the problems of student fear of big words and boredom with reading. Vocab engages students, and the close reading teaches them how to understand tough reads.”

    — Whitney Ann Lewis, SAT/ACT prep, Horry County, SC

  • “A lot of my students said that this was the first time someone’s teaching them HOW to read, instead of just telling them to read.”

    -Micheala Morris, 10th grade English Teacher, Fresno, CA

  • “Our reading scores have been going down. Kids just don’t seem to have the stamina to keep reading. We really liked how Zinc Ignition builds that ability to focus through engaging them in close reading.”

    — Shannon Schumacher, Instructional Coach, Campbell County, KY