You don’t need a complete overhaul to transform reading comprehension in your classroom.
Zinc doesn’t replace what’s already working in your practice. Instead, Zinc shows students how to build meaning as they read—so they can actually comprehend the texts you teach.
Middle and High School Reading Is Different
Students enter the secondary years with wildly different reading levels. Some students can handle the text. Some struggle. Some can decode the words but come away with little understanding of what they’ve read.
Meanwhile, you need to teach high-level concepts like author’s purpose, argumentation, tone, and figurative language.
But too many teens still struggle to reliably turn words on the page into images, ideas, and meaning.
Understanding the Comprehension Gap
How Zinc Targets Comprehension
Zinc’s Reading Ignition teaches four essential reading habits that successful readers use instinctively. Then, Zinc Journeys provides yearlong practice and reinforcement, using the texts and topics students choose for themselves.
Zinc’s auto-differentiated reading journeys help you:
build a shared classroom language about how to read any text
give each student the level of challenge they need to grow
improve all students’ comprehension so you can trust them to read
Track Progress, See Who Needs Support, and Celebrate Growth
Get a high-level overview of where your students are at in their Zinc Journey.
Customize your students’ experience with leveled texts that support your curricula or focus on standards or skills where they need more support.
Link to more detailed reports for a deeper dive into individual student progress, standards performance, and student interests.
See What Zinc Looks Like in
a Real Classroom
From first engagement to continued growth, see how a real teacher is using Zinc.
At a rural Title I middle school, one 8th-grade teacher faced a familiar reality: students with gaps in vocabulary, comprehension, and reading stamina.
She used Zinc to build simple, consistent routines—short work blocks, clear expectations, and time to talk through mistakes. Over time, students learned to slow down, pay attention, and stay with the text.
Within weeks, most students were improving—and starting to talk about what they read.
Try Zinc with Your Students — For Free
Learn the research-backed methodology behind Zinc’s approach to teen reading. Then unlock free Explorer licenses for all your students.
Complete our one-hour (three modules) on-demand training series at your own pace to unlock free Zinc Explorer accounts for all your students. No setup fees. No lengthy onboarding.
The training modules give you everything you need to know to start implementing Zinc alongside your current best practices.
Quick Start Guide
for Free Zinc Licenses
Sign up for our online professional learning course. It’s quick & it’s free.
Complete the 3-part training (about 1 hour total).
Use the end-of-course survey to activate your free Explorer licenses.
Add students and monitor progress in dashboard.
FAQ
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Secondary ELA teachers, once training is complete.
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About 1 hour of teacher time to complete our free professional learning modules and unlock your free Zinc Explorer licenses.
After that, students can work independently in the Zinc app at their own pace.
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No. Zinc is designed to integrate smoothly with what you already teach. Use it as a curriculum supplement, for intervention, or for independent reading.
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Once enrolled, you’ll have access to guides, training modules, and our support team and onboarding library to answer implementation questions.
Get More Students Understanding What They Read
Students can’t enjoy reading unless they experience success. Give them the skills and practice they need.