A program designed to improve the reading, writing, and thinking skills of low achieving poverty level high school juniors was developed for use in a Pennsylvania high school. The program uses the Pennsylvania Reading Comprehension Plan's four critical experiences of (1) responding to literature, (2) self-selected and sustained silent reading, (3) oral and written composition, and (4) investigating and mastering language patterns in each of its four units. Two of these units concentrate on the students, specifically on the role of school in their lives and on their career and work plans, and two deal with logic and deductive reasoning. Each unit has its own evaluative criteria involving pretest and posttest holistically scored writing samples. Student achievement is also measured by the California Achievement Test. A major component of the program is its use of professors from a near-by community college who visit the high school and conduct lessons within each unit. Students also visit the college for special lectures and classes. A 2-month period is allowed for each unit, and each unit involves extensive writing in the descriptive, narrative, evaluative, and expressive modes. (The paper contains outlines for each unit in the program.) (FL)