The back-to-basics movement cannot realize its full potential until the characteristics of the effective teacher are identified. Future research should identify these characteristics through comparisons of students' actual reading growth with their expected reading growth and should focus on the variables of the instructional process employed by effective teachers. Methodological aspects of research must relate to an understanding of the problem and not to the sophistication of the research design. In addition, both cognitive and affective dimensions of reading instruction should be considered. (KS)