The author reported results of 2 sequential and interrelated studies that examined the efficacy of combining 2 models of reading strategy instruction -- reciprocal teaching and direct explanation. The studies were implemented in a high school in the Midwest. The literature documents that even mainstream high school students have serious deficits in higher order cognitive skills necessary for comprehension. Yet, few studies focus on secondary students, and almost none relate to high school students identified as proficient learners. The reported studies were designed to determine the effectiveness of combined strategy instruction incorporated into the school curricula in promoting strategic reading while fostering students' ability to perform reading comprehension tasks that require high levels of knowledge construction. Findings in this article suggest that combined strategy instruction may be beneficial in providing students with tools that will enable them to apply higher order cognitive processes while they learn from text.