Developed with practicing teachers in mind, this book presents reprints of 22 articles and excerpts from longer works that deal with the most significant trends and issues facing literacy educators--whole language, phonics, literacy materials, emergent literacy, spelling, assessment, content literacy, vocabulary instruction, national standards, and technology. One chapter in the book is devoted to each topic, and each chapter presents a brief introduction to the topic, the article or excerpt, an annotated bibliography, and suggestions for further involvement. The book begins with an introductory chapter on the field of literacy education. Articles or excerpts in the remaining 10 chapters are "Blending Whole Language and Systematic Direct Instruction" (Dixie Lee Spiegel);"Realities of 'Whole Language'" (Sean A. Walmsley and Ellen L. Adams); "Saying the 'p' Word: Nine Guidelines for Exemplary Phonics Instruction" (Steven A. Stahl); "Acquiring Literacy Is Natural: Who Skilled Cock Robin?" (Kenneth S. Goodman); "What Kind of Phonics Instruction Will We Have?" (Patricia M. Cunningham); "Basal Readers and the State of American Reading Instruction: A Call for Action" (The Commission on Reading, National Council of Teachers of English); "The Basalization of America: A Cause for Concern" (Constance Weaver); "An Attack on Basal Readers for the Wrong Reasons" (Patrick Groff); "Emergent Literacy: New Perspectives" (William H. Teale and Elizabeth Sulzby); From: "A Talk with Marilyn Adams"; "Toward an Embedded Model of Spelling Instruction for Emergent Literates" (John F. O'Flahavan and Renee Blassberg); From: "Teaching Spelling" (Edmund H. Henderson); From "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print" (Marilyn J. Adams--A Summary by Steven A. Stahl and others); "Putting It All Together: Solving the Reading Assessment Puzzle" (Roger Farr); "Research Currents: What Is and What Might Be in Evaluation" (Marie M. Clay); From: "Teaching Content Reading and Writing" (Martha Rapp Ruddell); "Content Literacy: A Definition and Implications" (Michael C. McKenna and Richard D. Robinson); "Incidental vs. Instructional Approaches to Increasing Reading Vocabulary" (William E. Nagy and Patricia A. Herman); "Vocabulary Development in the Whole Literacy Classroom" (Camille L. Z. Blachowicz and John J. Lee); "Developing Democratic Voices" (Patrick Shannon); "Launching a Revolution in Standards and Assessments" (Diane Ravitch); and "Issues in Technology and Literacy Education" (Jay S. Blanchard). (RS)