Starting at an appropriate reading level, SLC students are taught explicit reading comprehension strategies.  These include finding the main idea, making inferences, drawing conclusions, finding facts, and detecting the sequence. Students are also taught to be active readers and to use strategies such as prediction, questioning, image construction, and summarizing. Students learn to monitor their own comprehension when reading, and to become aware when they are confused or the text does not make sense.

Knowledge of words is also critical for good reading comprehension. Explicit vocabulary instruction at SLC is based on the Greek and Latin roots that form the foundation of the English language. Students learn the "building blocks" of words, as well as specific vocabulary derived from such roots. Students learn word meanings and relationships and gain the skills to decipher an unlimited number of new words. Vocabulary development is especially critical for middle and high school students who will soon take the SAT. 

As SLC students' reading ability and confidence grow, so do the lengths of the passages and complexity of the reading material. Students also learn how to approach different reading tasks such as literature and textbooks.