The nature and role of developmental education classes are under tremendous scrutiny across the nation today. Specifically, students are entering community college and four-year institutions of higher education unprepared to understand and apply much of the reading material presented to them in college-level classes. This article describes the effectiveness of using OUR READING TOOLBOX: The Reading-Thinking Connection as a thinking-centered approach in community college developmental reading classes. This faculty-created intervention consists of a set of twelve specially designed tools that are systematically used with highinterest readings to engage the students' minds in critical-thinking activities. The tools are designed to help students acquire and generalize the skills they need to understand readings that they encounter in college-level academic courses that are reading-intensive. Three strategies for teaching and learning that proved to be particularly essential to effectively carrying out lessons using OUR READING TOOLBOX will be presented. Preliminary research on results and benefits of using this thinking-centered intervention will be discussed.