Reviews and evaluative comments concerning the 11 papers read during the April 1976 portion of the Pittsburgh conference on the theory and practice of beginning reading are included in this document. Before the papers are reviewed, information is presented on some questions posed at the conference within the context of two issues that were raised at the conference. The first issue concerned whether or not a reading problem existed in the United States, and reflected the difficulties in defining the terms illiteracy, literacy, and functional illiteracy. The second issue focused on the difficulties involved in providing just the right kind of reading instruction, including the design and implementation of a reading program and changes in programs to fit individual needs or evidences of reading failure. Papers reviewed were presented by Jeanne Chall, Isabel Beck and Karen Block, Kenneth and Yetta Goodman, Roger Shuy, Jim Holland, Dennis Fisher, Carl Frederiksen, Barbara Bateman, Dick Venezky and Dominic Massaro, Charles Perfetti and Alan Lesgold, and Tom Sticht. (RL)