Because of concern about the harmful effects of placing children in low reading groups, this study tested the following "sacred cows" in reading: (1) the use of informal reading inventories for grouping children in reading instruction, (2) the homogeneous grouping practices currently utilized in most classrooms in the United States, (3) the use of readability formulas to identify "appropriate" reading materials for children to read, (4) the idea that children can be taught to read effectively only via basal readers, and (5) the analytical phonics strategies used to teach children phonics skills. The five experimental programs involved in the study were assigned to second grade classrooms in four Utah school districts. Students in both experimental and control classrooms were administered pre- and posttests in reading, vocabulary, reading comprehension, phonics, self image, and interest in reading. Reading vocabulary and reading comprehension were tested using the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Level B, Form 1. The findings suggest that by involving students in a lot of noninstructional reading and by using: (1) an analytical/synthetic decoding approach; (2) phonics to identify words not recognizable on sight; (3) heterogeneous grouping; and (4) children's literature rather than basal readers, student reading achievement is significantly greater than it is for those taught by traditional methods. (Numerous tables of findings and seven appendixes contain material relevant to the study.) (EL)