This report summarizes the work and findings of the National Reading Panel, charged by Congress to assess the status of research-based knowledge, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read. The introduction to the report discusses the charge to the panel by Congress, establishment of the panel, the panel's approach to achieving its objectives of its charge and initial topic selection, regional public hearings, and adoption of topics studied by the panel. The report then presents a methodological overview and the findings and determinations of the National Reading Panel by topic areas: alphabetics (phonemic awareness instruction and phonics instruction); fluency; comprehension (vocabulary instruction, text comprehension instruction, and teacher preparation and comprehension strategies instruction); teacher education and reading instruction; and computer technology and reading instruction. The report concludes with a discussion of research needs ("next steps") and reflections of the work of the panel. An addendum discusses the processes applied to the selection, review, and analysis of research relevant to reading instruction. (RS)