Services Overview

Changing lives.
Transforming performance.

We equip secondary educators with the specialized literacy tools needed to unlock content-area access, college readiness, and career success for all students, ensuring inclusive and equitable opportunities for every learner.

Led by Dr. Essie Hill — 20+ years in secondary education.

Actuate is dedicated to transforming educational practice through a strengths-based approach that engages students in the specialized, expert literacy practices of each discipline.

Core Services

Three integrated offerings.

Leadership Consultation

Literacy Leadership Strategy

Collaborate with secondary school leaders to boost adolescent reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, helping leaders to establish a schoolwide vision for literacy achievement.

A consultant collaborates with leaders on how to boost adolescent literacy and build a schoolwide literacy plan. This involves an initial assessment, ongoing implementation, and evaluation.

Data analysis & assessment
Schoolwide literacy plan design
Strengths-based coaching for secondary literacy
Secondary literacy interventions
Progress evaluation & refinement

Literacy Coaching

Professional Development Support

Shift from generic literacy strategies to disciplinary literacy — helping teachers teach students to think, read, and write like subject-area experts.

A coach collaborates with teachers to plan for and implement secondary literacy instruction through modeling and co-teaching, coaching cycles, and targeted feedback.

Disciplinary literacy coaching cycles
Modeling & co-teaching sessions
Targeted instructional feedback
Content-specific strategy integration
Apprenticeship model implementation

Educator Workshops

Active Learning Sessions

Engage educators in collaborative, facilitated sessions that move from awareness to implementation of secondary literacy practices.

A facilitator guides the learning of participants by using elements of group coaching, collaborative discussions, brainstorming or other small group activities, and peer learning to support teachers' implementation of secondary literacy instruction, ultimately to improve student academic success and achievement.

Disciplinary reading & writing
Disciplinary & Content Area Literacy
Reading & Comprehension Strategies
Peer learning & group coaching
Engagement & Assessment

Our Approach

Four principles that anchor every engagement.

Tailored Consultation

Our consulting transforms instruction through an evidence-based, strengths-focused approach, providing sustained professional development and tailored data protocols to ensure lasting results.

Empowerment Solutions

Empower educators with a robust, schoolwide literacy plan designed to unlock content-area access, college, and career readiness for secondary students.

Student-Centric Focus

We help educators implement literacy instruction that allows secondary students content-area access and academic and career readiness that prepares them for the future, driving tangible results and sustainable growth.

Innovative Practices

We use a strengths-based literacy coaching model to help content-area teachers provide discipline-specific instruction. This approach empowers students to think, read, and write like practitioners in a field (e.g., historians or scientists), shifting the focus from deficits to assets.

Who We Serve

Partners across the secondary ecosystem.

Secondary Schools
School Districts
Instructional Leaders
Content-Area Teachers

Equipping secondary educators with the specialized literacy tools needed to unlock content-area access, college readiness, and career success for every learner.