This learning guide helps teachers to understand the typical steps used in the construction of commercially produced, educational skills-management systems; to describe a representative set of such materials in the field of reading (the Wisconsin Design for Reading, the SRA "Diagnosis: An Instructional Aid," the Croft Word Attack and Comprehension System, the SARI kit, and Power Reading); and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of commercially produced diagnostic-prescriptive materials. (KS)