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Unlock Reading Growth for Every Secondary Student

In just two weeks—six 15- to 20-minute sessions— students gain real reading power.

See How It Works

Matt Bardin, Founder of Zinc

Why Students Struggle with Reading

Even skilled decoders hit comprehension barriers. Motivation drops, stamina weakens, and traditional texts fail to connect.

Decoding & fluency take a back seat
Digital distractions lower engagement
One-size-fits-all instruction fails

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Results That Matter

% of students who complete the program advance by an average of 1.5 grade levels in just two hours of structured reading time.

47

% of students say: “Yes, this helped me improve my reading”

85

% of students say: “Yes, I enjoyed the experience”

75

Schedule Your Zinc Demo

The Zinc Approach: Science + Choice + Motivation

Zinc isn’t another workbook. It uses four proven strategy-skills, lets students choose engaging topics, tapping into love-powered effort to build agency and joy in reading.

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Level Placement—Find Each Student’s Baseline

This short assessment allows Zinc to engage each student with the right level of challenge.

Takes ~30 minutes

Students work at their own pace

Sets the optimal starting point for their reading journey

Try a Level Placement

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Ignition—Students Learn Key Reading Strategies

A reading growth program that teaches core skills through engaging content and interactive exercises.

Teaches Zinc’s four transformative reading skills

Differentiated by student level and interest

Builds reading confidence, enjoyment, and stamina

Try Ignition Now

secondary reading, literacy, article library, differentiation, comprehension

Lift Off – Build a Love of Reading

Students choose from curated content to reinforce skills and build their identities as readers

A wide variety of relevant, authentic texts

Gamified vocabulary and close reading

Powered by student choice

See How Choice Drives Engagement

Zinc Ignition teaches students four scientifically proven, easy-to-apply reading skills.

- The easiest way into a text is to start with the words and phrases you can see, smell, touch, hear, or taste in your head: “Swimming in a pond in the rain.”
- More challenging abstract words only make sense when we think of relevant examples: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
- When students miss a “this” or an “it,” they get lost and bored. Connecting pronouns to their antecedents keeps them following the text.
- Transition words and punctuation marks guide us through the layers of meaning in any text.