Odell High School Literacy Program—9–12 Curriculum
Real Texts. Real Discussions.
Real Readers.
Odell High School Literacy Program (HSLP), now part of Great Minds®, helps students in grades 9–12 engage with complex texts, ideas, and questions worth caring about.
Quality You Can Verify
Odell HSLP offers an experience centered on high-quality complex texts, building knowledge, and usability.
Real Texts Build Real Thinkers
Too often, secondary students move from passage to passage—chosen for convenience, not for building knowledge or perspective. Districts want materials that keep students engaged with whole texts while building skills across all four years of high school.
Where Complex Texts Meet Real Inquiry
Odell HSLP is a 9–12 ELA curriculum built around novels and text sets that drive real inquiry. For districts that want students who read deeply, think critically, and own their learning across four years of high school, Odell HSLP builds real readers, writers, and thinkers—with the flexibility to adapt across diverse classrooms and communities.
Where Instructional Rigor
Meets Teacher Expertise
Instruction should be shaped around the students and district, with structure to guide it.
Units and Lessons Designed for Flexibility
Districts select Development Units that teach topics relevant to their schools and community. Daily lessons include Core, Support, and Extension activities that help teachers adapt for their classrooms.
Pacing Is Flexible for Your Classroom Model
Odell HSLP provides pacing guides for 45-, 60-, and 90-minute blocks instead of a fixed number of minutes each day, making it easy for educators and curriculum coordinators to plan around their district's schedule.
Choice That Builds Student Agency
Each year, students develop their own research questions, choose investigation pathways, form research teams, and present to real audiences.
Knowledge That Stays with Students
Skills and inquiry build deep knowledge across grade levels, not just isolated skills.
Knowledge is Intentionally Built
Each day, lessons support student analysis of grade-level texts, precise critical thinking, and robust discourse.
Central Questions Drive Inquiry Across the Unit
Each unit is organized around a Central Question, not a topic, but a question worth thinking about, like "How do we determine the right thing to do?" The central question creates a through-line, so knowledge accumulates.
Knowledge Builds Discourse and Discussion
Students regularly communicate their understanding, practice academic vocabulary, and build on each other's thinking so discourse is treated as a knowledge-building engine, not just participation points.
Texts Worth Finishing
Students engage with real novels, coherent text sets, and tools built for deep, sustained analysis.
Every Unit is Anchored in Something Substantial
Every text was chosen because it's worth a student's time. Everything in the unit builds toward and around one anchor topic, unlike anthology programs where no single text carries all the weight.
Coherent Text Sets
Every Unit Reader is a designed collection of texts, not disjointed excerpts, so students can annotate and reference them throughout the module. Shorter texts build topic knowledge from multiple angles.
Digital Tools Designed for Deep Text Engagement
The Literacy Toolbox moves students from an initial read to deeper analysis because they're spending extended time with a whole text.
Professional Learning That Grows With You
Through workshops, coaching, consulting, and on-demand tools, we help teachers deepen their practice, strengthen lesson execution, and build sustainable systems for growth. Every partnership is tailored to a district’s evolving needs—whether launching a new program or refining established practices—with one shared goal: lasting success for teachers and students.
Great Minds Digital Platform
The Great Minds Digital Platform provides access to all units and lesson materials, including PDFs of teacher and student materials and slides to share with students. Odell HSLP also includes implementation support videos and resources, backed by Great Minds district support for digital platform use.
