Providing guidance to teachers of young children in schools and early childhood programs, this paper presents a position statement that summarizes the current issues in learning to read and write and reviews what is known from research on young children's literacy development. This review of research (divided into sections birth through preschool, kindergarten, and the primary grades) as well as the collective wisdom and experience of members of the International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children provides the basis for the position statement about what constitutes developmentally appropriate practice in early literacy over the period of birth through age eight. The paper concludes with recommendations for teaching practices and policies. (Contains 113 references and a continuum of children's development in early reading and writing.) (RS)