A strategic instruction model introduced into adult basic education classrooms yields insight into the feasibility of using direct and explicit instruction with adults with learning disabilities or other cognitive barriers to learning. Ecobehavioral assessment was used to describe and compare instructor-learner interaction patterns during learning center models of instruction and explicit, strategic instruction. The strategic instruction produced a higher quantity of instructional time and greater parity and efficiency in the instructor-learner interaction patterns than learning center instruction, which seems to indicate that explicit instruction is a feasible alternative for adult basic education classrooms.