A study examined the content of eight 1989 editions of the major basal reading series--those of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; D.C. Heath and Co.; Holt Rinehart and Winston; Houghton Mifflin; Macmillan; McGraw-Hill; Scott, Foresman and Co.; and Silver Burdett and Ginn. The study determined how and the extent to which lessons and activities that promote metacomprehension behaviors necessary for independent strategic reading were included in the second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade levels of these series. Data were derived from page-by-page inspections of the basal reading series. Results indicated that basal authors have made considerable efforts to incorporate activities and lessons that promote or foster strategic reading through comprehension skill instruction, through explicit strategy instruction, and in the context of directed reading activities that accompany reading selections. (Four tables of data are included; 32 references are attached.) (Author/RS)