Project RAISSE, which stands for Reading Assistance Initiative for Secondary School Educators, focuses on site-based content area study groups led by a content area teacher trained as a coach/literacy leader with some roles and responsibilities commensurate with a literacy coach. The goal of Project RAISSE is to enhance students' reading achievement and instruction in high schools, to facilitate teachers' understanding of the reading process as it relates to content area reading, and to help them develop the knowledge base necessary for making informed, effective curricular and instructional decisions about reading in their classrooms. To date, two South Carolina high schools contending with poor student performance have participated in Project RAISSE. Both are located in rural settings with similarly low socio-economic environments. In this paper, the authors describe the lessons they have learned from their implementation of Project RAISSE.