Staff development was provided for academic and vocational teachers interested in improving their students' reading and writing skills. The first step was to examine the need. Survey data collected from students and vocational program completers from Southern Regional Education Board-Vocational Education Consortium pilot site schools revealed a need for more attention to reading and writing skills. A Reading/Writing Institute was undertaken to address these concerns. The second step involved working with a task force to develop long-range plans. A general framework for the inservice activities was planned. During the third step, teams (identified by pilot-site coordinators) composed of a language arts teacher and a vocational teacher who were committed to improving the reading and writing competencies of students in vocational programs would implement strategies learned at the institute, and would provide leadership and instruction to other teachers. The fourth and fifth steps included conducting face-to-face inservice sessions and preparing and distributing newsletters. During the 2-day institute, 125 participants learned to use a number of different reading and writing strategies. They met with others from their states and pilot sites to formulate plans of action for the coming school year. The evaluation step consisted of a survey of use of the strategies. A problem with offering over-time staff development was high turnover of participants in a conference setting. (YLB)