These short summaries of the reports from the National Institute of Education's Conference on Studies in Reading are intended to reflect accurately the general areas of research recommended by each of the 10 panels taking part in the conference. Each panel focused on a particular problem in reading, identifying general approaches, suggesting programs of research, and--within these programs--generating specific research projects. Subjects of the panels are: semantics, concepts, and culture; the structure and use of language; attention and motivation; modeling the reading process; assessment of reading comprehension; applications of existing reading comprehension research; reading comprehension and the high school graduate; learning and motivation in early reading; reading strategies for different cultural and linguistic groups; and essential skills and skill hierarchies in reading instruction. Complete reports for each of the ten panels are available in separate documents. (JM)