This paper contends that efforts at educational reform must focus, above all, on the instructional encounter between teachers and students. The argument is presented in triadic sequence: three basic assumptions about learning, three interrelated models of the instructional process, and three practical approaches to promoting cognitive achievement. The three assumptions are as follows: (1) cognitive activity is inherent and patterned; (2) learning is a goal-oriented cognitive activity; and (3) instruction is an intentional activity where teachers intend to influence students' learning. The three models which synthesize contemporary research on teaching and instructional psychology are as follows: (1) the 6-factor CEDARS model of instruction (content, evaluation data, delivery of task cues, acquisition, retrieval, and setting); (2) the cognitive mediational model of teaching effectiveness; (3) the task-oriented model of student learning. These models are then applied in a discussion of teaching methods that can promote cognitive achievement. These methods include (1) steps toward realizing instructional intentions (gaining attention, clarifying perceptions, maximizing capability, and motivating cognitive work), (2) steps toward facilitating instructional tasks (comprehending initial conditions, comprehending the goal, and having plans for transforming the initial conditions into the goals, and (3) steps toward taking steps (revamping teacher education curricula and encouraging further cognitive research to clarify interactions among the facets of instruction). (TE)