As the call for evidence-based programs and practices heightens (e.g., the Every Student Succeeds Act), there is little doubt about the urgency to bring solid research into the classroom. Implementing findings generated from rigorous research continues to be a viable, trustworthy, and necessary factor in preventing and addressing learning difficulties and accelerating the academic achievement of students with disabilities. This special issue of "TEACHING Exceptional Children" is devoted to describing a set of explicit and systematic teaching practices that special educators can use on a daily basis in the classroom to improve student outcomes. These practices include promoting comprehension of information text, increasing the mathematics achievement of English learners, promoting working memory among at-risk learners, and using technology to improve learning outcomes. Each article in this special issue provides special educators with step-by-step guidelines to incorporate explicit and systematic instructional practices into their daily instructional routines. Articles in this special issue highlight how explicit and systematic instruction can be applied across domains to support students with disabilities, English learners, and those at risk for school failure. Each article gives examples of what explicit instruction is and what it looks like in practice. By providing examples across a range of content areas, the hope is to provide teachers with a deeper understanding of why systematic instruction is designed as it is and how to apply it across in a variety of contexts with the goal of improving student performance and outcomes.