Leadership is absolutely necessary for creating conditions to advance literacy achievement for adolescents, especially students who are not yet proficient in reading and writing. This session aims to bring educators into the shoes of an adolescent striving reader. Participants will explore the challenges students face when struggling to comprehend and consider how students can use their strengths to grow areas of need. Through the stories of the implementation of a literacy intervention program aligned to the most recent research on adolescent literacy at a high performing Minnesota high school along with shifts made at a small private alternative high school in Nebraska, participants can see how they might (re)design their approach to engaging learners, accelerating growth, and fostering identity change for so many struggling learners.