This guide is designed to help school communities make good choices about early literacy intervention. The guide distinguishes between "reading" (a process of learning to decode and comprehend texts) and a broader concept of "literacy" that includes understanding of the value of language and reading (emergent literacy), the ability to write making proper use of the English language (composition), and the ability to read for understanding across topics (critical literacy). Part I provides an overview of different types of research-based reading reforms, focusing on the ways their designs relate to the general body of theory and research on early reading and literacy. It describes a diverse array of research-based approaches to intervention to improve early reading and literacy. Part I also provides a framework for assessing early interventions and uses the framework to provide a summative review of six different types of interventions: Pre-kindergarten, Kindergarten, Pullout, Classroom-wide, School-wide, and Inquiry-based. Part II provides guidance for assessing the learning environment that can set the stage for planning for early interventions. It considers: assessing current practice, setting a new direction, designing an intervention, and assessing impact. Each section contains contact information and references on early reading/literacy intervention and about different intervention methods. An appendix contains a sample early reading and literacy classroom survey. (Contains 53 references and 15 figures.) (NKA)