This report provides a summary of the preliminary investigations conducted by the Early Literacy Workgroup in Maine's schools, and is designed to serve the following purposes: articulate a set of interrelated, common characteristics of successful literacy programs; extend to schools an invitation to dialogue about effective literacy practices and supportive school and community contexts; provide schools a place to begin examining their own practices, and a recursive model for doing so; and inform the Center for Inquiry's continued examination of literacy practices in Maine. The report presents its information in the following order: a summary of the research design used to gather data; an examination of common characteristics revealed in the analysis of the data, including a description of a recursive model for effecting change; and a set of preliminary conclusions, implications, and questions for further dialogue in local school districts among professional development service providers, as well as policymakers. (Includes 6 tables. Appendixes include a 17-item bibliography of references, a guide to dialogue, the survey used in the investigation, and literacy resources.) (NKA)