About Keith Lenz

Dr. B. Keith Lenz is an educator, researcher, and consultant with more than 40 years of experience in special education, instructional design, and school improvement. His work centers on one goal: making rigorous, research-based instruction work for every student in today’s inclusive classrooms, including students with learning disabilities. He has partnered with universities, state departments of education, school districts, and private schools across the country to improve teaching and student outcomes.

SMARTER360 Cycles of Instruction

Dr. Lenz developed SMARTER360 Cycles of Instruction, a framework that helps teachers plan and teach in connected cycles at the course, unit, and lesson levels. Each cycle moves through seven steps: Shape, Map, Analyze, Reach, Teach, Evaluate, and Revisit. Teachers use these cycles to build instruction that is clear, connected, and responsive to the full range of learners in the room, so that planning at one level strengthens the others.

Content Enhancement Routines

As a co-developer of the Content Enhancement Routines, Dr. Lenz has spent much of his career helping teachers make complex content understandable and memorable for all students. These routines give teachers and students a shared, visible structure for learning, and they fit naturally within SMARTER360 planning. They include:

• The Course Organizer Routine: introducing and maintaining the big ideas, goals, and community expectations of an entire course
• The Unit Organizer Routine: showing students how each unit fits into the course and how its parts connect
• The Lesson Organizer Routine: framing each lesson so students understand what they are learning, why it matters, and how it links to the unit

Rather than treating structure as an extra support for a few students, Dr. Lenz views explicit structure as an essential condition for learning that benefits the whole class.

Academic and Research Leadership

Dr. Lenz has held faculty and research positions at:

• University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning: co-developed the Content Enhancement Routines and contributed to the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM)
• University of Central Arkansas: served as Department Chair, Associate Professor, and Coordinator of Special Education Graduate Programs
• SRI International: led large-scale research on literacy interventions

He has authored books, instructional manuals, and peer-reviewed articles on effective teaching, and he presents nationally and at state and local levels on strategies that improve student achievement and success.

Areas of Expertise

• Instructional Planning: course, unit, and lesson planning through SMARTER360 Cycles of Instruction
• Curriculum and Instructional Design: enhancing access to content through Content Enhancement Routines and other research-based tools
• Learning Strategies: teaching students how to learn, from reading and note taking to studying and expressing what they know
• Inclusive Education and Universal Design for Learning (UDL): designing instruction that works for diverse learners
• Classroom Management: proactive, practical strategies as a Time to Teach trainer
• Professional Development and Leadership Coaching: supporting teachers and administrators as they put new practices in place
• AI and Open Educational Resources (OERs): improving the design and accessibility of digital curriculum

Working with Dr. Lenz

Dr. Lenz offers on-site and online professional development, keynotes, and consulting for schools and districts. Current areas of focus include:

• Implementing SMARTER360 Cycles of Instruction
• Content Enhancement Routines for middle and secondary classrooms
• Inclusive practices for middle and secondary schools
• Improving literacy instruction
• Classroom management
• AI-supported curriculum and content development