Based directly on the reports of the National Reading Panel ("Teaching Children To Read") and the National Research Council ("Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children"), this guide is designed to be an accessible and practical document that delivers research findings about effective reading instruction that may serve as guidelines for reading teachers in Title I schools. The guide amounts to a "checklist" to help teachers and principals to recognize the key characteristics of quality reading programs at a glance and to match instruction in their classrooms to the best practices described in the research. The guide does not describe any single way to teach a child to read. It is divided into seven parts: Understanding Reading Instruction; Important Reading Skills (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Comprehension, and Vocabulary); Reading Readiness; Beginning Readers; Intermediate Readers; Children with Special Needs; and Grade-by-Grade Accomplishments. The first six sections are not broken down by grade level: in the early grades, all children learn to read at different speeds and how to deal with different challenges. The "accomplishments" listed in the last section are based on grade levels to give teachers and parents a sense of what they can reasonably expect children to do as they become more skillful readers. (RS)