This paper explains the government of the United Kingdom's (UK) National Literacy Strategy (NLS), established in 1997 by the incoming UK government to raise standards of literacy in English elementary school over a 5- to 10-year period. The paper summarizes how international research influenced the Strategy; reports on the impact of the NLS on the teaching of early reading in England; and indicates how international research findings may be used further to improve the teaching of writing. It also discusses a project at the University of Leeds (already running when the NLS was implemented) which investigated the teaching of early literacy and what teachers perceived as the most supportive influences in the teaching of early literacy. Contains a figure and 33 references. (NKA)