High Progress Literacy

About HPLA: Who we Are. What we Do.

This site was created and is maintained by High Progress Literacy Associates, LLC. We are an educational consulting firm dedicated to helping all students become “high progress” learners. We know that not only is this possible, it is an opportunity that is passionately embraced by students who are lucky enough to be in classrooms that adopt the tenets of high progress literacy.

Our work is to help teachers and students create these classrooms. We do this through:

• Working side-by-side with teachers and instructional leaders
• Providing Professional Learning Experiences
• Creating instructional videos
• Developing assessment tools
• Compiling content materials that promote high progress classrooms

It is typically a combination of these practices that bring the best results. (By “results” we mean student learning that results in higher achievement, which in our experience, is almost always reflected in student test scores.)

Districts and schools have different needs. To find out what might work best for you, contact us!

Contact Us

High Progress Literacy Associates is headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina. We are available to work with schools and districts throughout the U.S. and Canada. Use the form below to contact us for further information or to request a proposal for creating high progress classrooms in your school or district.

What is a High Progress Literacy Associate?

We consider anyone who embraces the tenets of high progress literacy and who demonstrates an understanding of these tenets as evidenced through practice, a High Progress Literacy Associate. Currently this is an informal recognition, but we have plans to develop a more formal process in the future. We believe that teachers and instructional leaders who transform classrooms and schools into vibrant high progress learning communities should be recognized—and we want to do that!

Our “lead associates” are our company employees and consultants who support the work of our school-based associates. These are the folk who develop and promote this website and other materials.

Jennifer Young is the founding associate of High Progress Literacy Associates. Her life-long interest in how people learn to make sense of the world through experience and language eventually led her to form a company to support teachers, students, and school leaders to make our classrooms reflect the real life ways people make sense of concepts, content, texts, and life. 

Jennifer’s experiences include classroom teaching, curriculum and instruction at the school and district levels, and coaching in the South Carolina Reading Initiative, South Carolina Reading First,and for the SCDE’s Office of Literacy and Early Learning. She has expertise in designing and implementing interventions through years of experience as a Reading Recovery teacher and teacher leader, SC Reading First Intervention Trainer, RTI Intervention Specialist for the SCDE, and Literacy Specialist for the SCDE. 

Beginning in 2011, Jennifer headed up a research team charged with exploring how to make practical the descriptions of high progress literacy classrooms in the research. She has been a high progress literacy educator ever since.

Laura Hubbard is High Progress Literacy’s high school specialist. She has worked with students from ages 8 to 45, helping students develop skills ranging from reading to multivariable calculus and beyond, by giving them the agency to take control of their own learning.

An avid writer, Laura holds a B.S. in Biology from Duke University. Her experiences include curriculum development for online and in-person courses, one-on-one teaching, and guiding students and their parents through the college preparation process. Her dream is to help make lifelong learning–whether through college or technical school–an option for all students rather than just a dream.

Rachel Jensen is lead associate for curation for High Progress Literacy’s TextDepot. A research and science literacy support specialist, Rachel locates articles and resources and organizes them to create the text sets in TextDepot, supporting instructors to incorporate best practices in using texts to learn across the curriculum.

Rachel has been in education for 7 years, working as a district science coach in Florida, and as the professional learning and curriculum specialist for K-5 science instruction in Augusta, Georgia. She currently works as a full-time mother raising her four young children, and works with High Progress Literacy as a consultant. Rachel will completed a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Liberty University in Spring of 2018.

Michael Seaman is lead associate for research and IT. With expertise and experience in research, he advises associates regarding the latest research in high progress literacy and how to apply these research findings in classrooms. Michael consults with districts on application of research, evaluation of educational programs, and educational assessment.  Additionally, he heads up web development and helps to fully integrate the use of technology in our work.

Michael holds a PhD. in Quantitative Methods in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently teaches research methods and statistics for graduate students at the University of South Carolina. He also worked in college administration at the UofSC for 15 years as a department chair, associate dean for administration and research, executive associate dean, and special assistant to the dean of education.