This book attempts to put learning to read in the United States into its broader ecological context of the school, the family, and society. It tells the stories of students trying to learn to read and of the adults who try to help them. The stories of individual students, particularly the case study of a student named James, illustrate how the ecology of schooling fits together. The first chapter explores the ecology of inequity and provides an overview of assumptions and myths about learning to read. Chapter 2 describes what ecology means as it relates to the reading and learning process. Chapters 3 and 4 present case studies of two students, one urban and one suburban, as they try to learn to read; and chapter 5 analyzes and compares these studies. Chapters 6 and 7 attempt to build a framework for second-order change of the system. Chapters 8 and 9 consider transforming the ecology of inequity, and chapter 9 includes two models for changing schools. One is a university-school building model for reform, and the other is a college-school partnership model for professional development. Three appendixes examine the role of critical experience in the classroom. (Contains 226 references.) (SLD)